The artful mind december issuu version

THE ARTFUL MINDDECEMBER 2015

Author / Teacher / Publisher Jana LaizPhotography by Lee Everett

THE SOURCE FOR PROMOTING ART SINCE 1994

Happy Holidays! Order today!Your photographs on drinking-coasters

and/or fridge magnets made of local OakFun gift for everyone in your life!

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” -- Ernest Hemingway

EDWARD ACKERphotographer

Time Flies • Get PicturesEdwardAckerPhotographer.com

800-508-8373

If interested in being interviewed in The Artful Mindartzine, please send an e-mail with a proposal letter

and include web-site / info about yourself.Now planning Summer - Fall 2016 editorial!

[email protected]

MARILYN KALISH

Vault Gallery322 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA.

413-854-7744

Lilly Clifford Gallery112 South Street, East Sussex

England

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

SPRINGTIME IN JAPANDecember 4 - December 27

Artist reception: December 5, 2015 12 - 4pmAnD stAy for HuDson’s AnnuAl Winter WAlk, 5 - 8pm

510 Warren Street GalleryHudSon, neW york

518-822-0510 • HourS: Friday & Saturday, 12 - 6, Sunday 12 - 5

JohN Lipkowitz,"the Great torii, MiyaJiMa, JapaN"

The ArTfuL MinD DeCeMBer 2015 • 1

complete schedule: www.saintfrancisgallery.com413.717. 5199 Open Fri, Sat., Sun., & Mon. 10-5 pm

Saint Francis Gallery1370 Pleasant street. route 102 LEE. MA (next to fire dept.)

Gallery supports creative humanitarian work in Kenya

The Magic of Lightand Small MiraclesOctober 31 - December 22, 2015

Chirs

tine

Goldf

inger

/Bru

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“Art is a timeless gift”

CommissionsStephenFilmus

[email protected]

Window Into the World of Art

Nina Lipkowitz, Summer Sushi

NINA LIPKOWITZiPaintings

Meditations in Light and ColorDecember 12 - January 12, 2016

Opening Reception Saturday, December 12 • 4 - 7pm

716 MAIN STREET, WINSTED, CT 06098windowworldart.com

~ Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 1 - 5pm ~

ARTFUL CALENDAR DECEMBER 2015

2 • 2015 DeCeMBer The ArTfuL MinD

Art

510 WArren STreeT GALLery 510 Warren Street, HudSon, ny • 518-822-0510 Friday & Saturday, 12 - 6, Sunday 12 - 5 or byappointment;[email protected] / 510war-renstreetgallery.comdecember: Photography: John lipkowitz:Springtime in Japan, reception dec 5, 12-4pm

CArrie hADDAD GALLery622 Warrent St., HudSon, ny • 518-828-1915thru dec 27: radical inventions; dec 20 - Feb7: Photography: david Halliday, robert Hite,eric lindbloom, Jeri eisenberg, Gail Peachin,Portia Munson, kahn & Slelsnick, newboldBohemia and Birgit Blyth

DeniSe B ChAnDLer Fine art PHotoGraPHywww.denisebchandler.comexhibiting and represented by Sohn Fine art,lenox Ma. new member artist at 510 WarrenSt Gallery, Hudson, ny, view work duringgallery hours,

frOnT STreeT GALLery129 Front St, HouSatoniC, Ma • 413-274-6607Housatonic gallery for students and artists, featuring watercolor and oil paintings by artist kate knapp

GOOD PurPOSe GALLery40 Main Street, lee, Ma • 413-394-50459am - 4pm every day; [email protected]; goodpurpose.org “Holiday Glow” and features the artwork of terry Wise,Susan Himmel, and Jennifer Pazienza, as well as severalother talented artists and crafts people. opening receptionon Friday, november 27th, from 5:30pm - 7:30pm withlive music, hors d'oeuvres, wine and dessert. thru Jan12th.

JOhn DAViS GALLery362 1/2 Warren St, HudSon, ny • [email protected] J. Wallace: in Secluded Corners, thru dec 6.

LAuren CLArK fine ArT25 railrd. St, Gt. BarrinGton, Ma • [email protected] www.laurenClarkFineart.com www.windowworldart.comFine art and framing. Sunday, december 5 from 3-5pmlauren Clark Fine art presents a poetry ready of noWby author, painter, and poet Jk lawson.

MArGueriTe BriDeHoMe Studio at 46 Glory drive, PittSField, Ma413-841-1659 or 413-442-7718MargeBride-Paintings.com FB: Marguerite Bride Watercolorsoriginal watercolors, specializing in custom house andbuilding portraits. lessons in Watercolor technique. GiftCertificates. now on exhibit: Winter scenes at Mary’sCarrot Cake Shop, union St., Pittsfield.

MASSMoCA1040 MaSS MoCa Way, nortH adaMS, Ma• 413-664-4481Jim Shaw: entertainment doubts, now thru Jan 2015

MOrriSOn GALLery8 old Barn road, kent, Ct • [email protected]

OMi inTernATiOnAL ArTS CenTer1405 County route 22, GHent, ny • 917-941-2671reframing nature: allan Wexler. thru Jan 2016

SChAnTz GALLerieS3 elM St, StoCkBridGe, Ma • 413-298-3044schantzgalleries.coma destination for those seeking premier artists workingin glass

SCOTT BArrOW17 HouSatoniC St, lenox, Ma • 413-637-2299Photography on view by Scott Barrow

SOhn fine ArT69 CHurCH St, lenox, Ma ormond Gigli, Greg Gorman, eric korenman, Hildy Pin-cus kronen, anne Mourier, Pops Peterson, Jack rad-cliffe, kevin Sprague: thru Jan 2016

ST. frAnCiS GALLeryrte. 102, SoutH lee (just 2 miles east from the Red LionInn) Friday thru Monday 10-5pm.the Magic of light and Small Miracles, thru dec 22, 3-6pm. Flute music by performer Gregory Getner

The CLArK ArT inSTiTuTe225 SoutH St, WilliaMStoWn, Ma • 413-458-2303an eye for excellence/ twenty years of Collecting,Clark’s permenant collection, thru april 10, 2016

The hArriSOn GALLery39 SPrinG St, WilliaMStoWn, Ma • 413-458-1700december: Jamie young, thru dec 30.

VAuLT GALLery322 Main St, Gt. BarrinGton, Ma• 413-644-0221Marilyn kalish at work and process onview, beautiful gallery with a wonderfulcollection of paintings

WinDOW inTO The WOrLD Of ArT716 Main Street, WinSted, Ct• 203-243-3069www.windowworldart.comGallery Wednesday – Saturday from 1-5pm; Mid november they will head off thebeaten path with an exhibit entitled ‘all inthe family’, an eclectic collection of art in-cluding paintings, drawings, and photo-graphs. Starting december 12, Windowinto the World of art will exhibit iPaintingsby nina lipkowitz, Meditations in light &Color

DeB KOffMAn’S ArTSPACe137 Front St, HouSatoniC, Ma

• 413-274-1201Sat: 10:30-12:45 class meets. no experience in

drawing necessary, just a willingness to look deepely andwatch your mind. this class is conducted in silence.adult class. $10, please call to register.

tHEAtrE & ENtErtAINMENt

CLOSe enCOunTerS WiTh MuSiCMaHaiWe PerForMinG artS Center, Gt BarrinGton, Ma • 413-528-0100 for tixdec 12, Sat. 6pm: “dually” noted, Music for Four Hands

COLOniAL TheATre111 SoutH St, PittSField, Ma • 413-997-4444

www.berkshiretheatregroup.ordec 12-22: a Christmas Carol by Charles dickens,adapted by eric Hill, co-directed by travis daly. See webfor details on times and tickets. Feb 14, 8pm: the Wail-ers

heLSinKi CAfe405 ColuMBia St, HudSon, ny • 518-828-4800 [email protected] 10: elvis Perkins; dec 11 & dec 12, 9pm: Holidelic; dec 20, 8pm: Club d’elf with John Medeski

MASSMoCA1040 MaSS MoCa Way, nortH adaMS, Ma• 413-664-4481dec. 5, 8pm: San Fermin with Sam amidon

MAhAiWe TheATre14 CaStle St, Gt BarrinGton, Ma • 413-528-0100dec 31, 6pm: Berkshire Bach Society presents Bach atnew years Send in your liStinGS By tHe 5tH oF eaCHMontH Prior to [email protected]

Titus Kaphur, To be titled, 2014WallS evolves: expanding a living Collection

through February 7, 2016 • Williams College Museum of artWilliamstown, Ma

Works of art on our walls, student-led project, recently acquired prints,drawings and photographs on view in this exhibition that brings the

acquisition process to the front. Vote when you see the galleries!


Beautiful Massachusetts Berkshires & Beyond

2016 Art Poster Calendars

Twelve Monthly Posters featuring the diverse beauty of our neighborhoods.

they include outdoor recreation, Farming, Farm-to-table, history and more…available sizes: 5"x7" or 11"x14"

I aim to share what I see by chance or by design,that is beautiful to me.

The camera allows me to do that.-Lynne M. Anstett - Photography ©

Imagery Art Works

Lynne M. Anstett - Photography © Imagery Art Works860-888-3672

[email protected] • Imagery Art Works Facebook Website for prints:

http://www.gicleeone.com/lynne-m-anstettGiclée Fine Art Photographs ~ Lynne M. Anstett

Choose fine art paper or canvas, framing and stretching available.

2016 Art Poster Calendar available here and other fine stores:Williams & Sons Country Store – Stockbridge, Berkshire Museum – PittsfieldThe Bookloft – Great Barrington, LOCAL – Lenox, The Bookstore – Lenox,

Canterbury Farm – Becket, Pleasant & Main – Housatonic, The Williams Inn – Williamstown,

Montage – Millerton, NY and Artisans Guild – Norfolk, CT

The MuSiC STOreWhat better way to celebrate the Season of Giving than to

gift yourself and those you love with MuSiC?!the Music Store’s first Fifteen years in business in Great

Barrington has proven many things! We enjoy helping thecommunity, near and far to make music which has been an en-joyable and productive enterprise for us. and we look forwardto continuing this mission in the second half of oursecond decade. We offer wonderful musical instruments andaccessories at competitive pricing.

We have a good time serving our community, her musiciansand music lovers. Come see some of the fun . . .

Composite acoustic guitars (the forever guitar!) and theirpeerless travel guitar, the Cargo, a favorite of our own dr.easy, david reed, made of carbon graphite and imperviousto most changes of temperature and humidity. you can see itoften in his hands in performance locally and abroad.

Guild Guitars - light, powerful, affordableterriFiC ukuleleS! 60+ diFFerent models: So-prano, Concert, tenor and Baritone, acoustic andacoustic/electric, six string, resonator, the Maccaferri-likeMakala Waterman uke (made all of plastic for easy portabilityalmost anywhere!) the remarkable u-Bass, and the new SolidBody uke Bass by the Magic Fluke Co.! you might even heardr. easy play a banuke! How about a Cordoba Cuatro? or aWest african djembe with a SMaSHinG carry bag? or abeautiful set of african djun djuns?

try takamine for a guitar to suit almost any budget (thePro Series at deeP unpublished discounts)! dr. easy can tellyou about his. and we are SlaSHinG tak prices for thefall!!alvareZ GuitarS - Celebrating their 50th yearwith BeautiFul limited editions! Breedlove - beautiful,american, sustainable. and so many more brands and types,including luthier Handmade instruments from $150-$5000 .. . . ever heard of dr. easy’s drunk Bay Cigar Boxes?acoustic/electric cigar box guitars, exquisitely made, whichbring the past into the present with a delightful punch, acousti-cally and plugged in! you can even hear them on the patioand in action Saturday nights at GB’s own aegean Breezerestaurant! Harmonicas, in (almost) every key (try a SuzukiHammond ‘Mouth organ’). Picks (exotic, too!), strings (!!),sticks and reeds. violins, Mandolins, dulcimers, Banjos, andBanjo ukes! Handmade and international percussion instru-ments! dreamy native american and locally made bambooand wooden flutes and walking stick flutes! and there is moreto delight the eyes, intrigue the ears and bring warm joy to theheart!

We remain your neighborhood music store, where adviceand help are free and music is the universal language. Work-ing with local luthiers and repairmen we offer stringed andband instrument repair. and we just may have something youhaven’t seen before (have you heard the electric Cigar BoxGuitars?). We match (or Beat) many on-line prices for themerchandise that we sell, and do so in PerSon, for the mostpart cheerfully (though we reserve the right to glower a littlewhen asked if we can ‘do better’ on the price of a pick!)!

Come and see us soon and help us celebrate the Season andmusic making in general. your patronage helps the commu-nity and makes it a more tuneful, healthy and happy place!Cheers!

the Music Store, located at 87 railroad Street in GreatBarrington, is open Wednesday through Sunday and by ap-pointment.

Call us at 413-528-2460, visit us on line at www.themu-sicstoreplus.com / on Facebook as the Music Store Plus, orsee our listings on reverb.comat https://reverb.com/shop/theMusicStorePlus. We wishyou peace and joy and happy MuSiC MakinG!


The ArTfuL MinDArTzineDeCeMBer 2015

Peggy reeves Photographer

Harryet Candee... 6

Author/ Teacher / PublisherJana Laiz

Photography by Lee EverettInterview by Harryet Candee ... 12

fiCTiOn: Otis the Playwright Part iii

Richard Britell ... 21

Lynne M. AnstettPhotographing Our neighborhoods

365 Days of the yearHarryet Candee... 22

fictionChristmas StoryFrank Gioia ... 28

Contributing Writers and Monthly Columnists Eunice Agar, Richard Britell, Eric Francis,

Kris Galli, Amy Tanner

Photographers Edward Acker, Lee Everett, Jane Feldman

Sabine von Falken, Alison Wedd

Publisher Harryet Candee

Copy Editor Marguerite Bride

Editorial proofreading Kris Galli

Advertising and Graphic Design Harryet Candee

Mailing Address: Box 985, Great Barrington, MA 01230

[email protected] 854 4400

ALL MATeriAL due the 9th of the month prior to publication

FYI: ©Copyright laws in effect throughout The Artful Mind for logo& all graphics including text material. Copyright laws for photogra-phers and writers throughout The Artful Mind. Permission to reprintis required in all instances. In any case the issue does not appear onthe stands as planned due to unforeseeable circumstances beyond ourcontrol, advertisers will be compensated on a one to one basis. Dis-claimer rights available upon request. Serving the Art community withthe intention of enhancing communication and sharing positive cre-ativity in all aspects of our lives. We at The Artful Mind are not respon-sible for any copyrights of the artists, we only interview them aboutthe art they create.

“Creativity takes courage.” -Henri Matisse

Jana Laiz, photographed by Lee Everett GOOD PurPOSeGALLery

Holiday GloWthe Good Purpose Gallery is celebrating the holidays

with a new collection of distinctive artwork and originalhandmade crafts from local artists. every year the GoodPurpose Gallery presents a much anticipated holiday ex-hibit. this year’s show is titled “Holiday Glow” and fea-tures the artwork of terry Wise, Susan Himmel, andJennifer Pazienza, as well as several other talented artistsand crafts people. Join us for a festive opening receptionon Friday, november 27th, from 5:30pm - 7:30pm withlive music, hors d’oeuvres, wine and dessert. the openingreception is an excellent opportunity both for collectorsand art lovers to meet the artists and to share their excite-ment regarding the selection of work they are especiallyproud to present. Holiday Glow will run through January12th.

Since its inception in 2011, the Good Purpose Galleryhas exhibited the work of area artists in a variety of stylesand media. the diversity of styles has long been a point ofpride for the gallery and our holiday show is an excellentshowcase for the many different approaches artists take tocreate their unique pieces.

terry Wise, a local artist from Stockbridge, Ma, hasbeen trained as a textile designer and translates much ofthat experience through her paintings. using block printpatterns to create images of texture and warmth, she bringsto life everyday objects and scenes.

Susan Himmel is an artist from upstate new york whofell in love with the Berkshire Hills and has drawn muchof her artistic inspiration from the beautiful scenery in thearea. Working in both paints and mixed media she exploreslight, shadow, and color from the world around her.

Jennifer Pazienza is a recently retired art education pro-fessor with the university of new Brunswick. For her,beauty compels replication – the means by which werenew our search for truth and our regard for that which islife giving. as an artist and educator her work attempts torecreate the call, response, and relationship she experiencesfor herself and for others.

Good Purpose Gallery and Spectrum Playhouse are pro-fessional venues that exist to offer students with learningdifferences real-life training, experience, and integrationwith the community. Both venues host professional artistsand events on a regular basis throughout the year, includingstudent events such as plays, performances, art exhibits,and more. Good Purpose Gallery - 40 Main Street, Lee, Massachu-setts. The gallery is open 9am - 3pm Sunday-Friday, 9am– 4pm Saturday; 413-394-5045 /[email protected]; goodpurpose.org

t. WiSe, taBle CarPet


STePhen fiLMuS CoMMiSSionS

this favorite Berkshire hillside, loved by a Boston cou-ple, was commissioned to mark their special anniversary.Giving a gift of art like this ensures that the essence of aspecial time and place will endure and give pleasure foryears to come.

“the commission process is collaboration betweenartist and client. Whenever possible we visit the site to-gether and discuss the elements of subject, color, form andthe “feeling” of the scene. the next step for me is to createa detailed color sketch that reflects the client’s vision andgives them a good sense of how the finished artwork willlook. at this point the commissioner can give input andsuggestions as i work toward the final design.

“lastly, i simply do what i know how to do - i sit at myeasel and paint.”

Stephen Filmus is represented by J. todd Gallery inWellesley, Ma. He is presently exhibiting several land-scapes at the Bennington Center for the arts and his workcan also be seen at his studio in Great Barrington by ap-pointment.

Stephen Filmus - [email protected] / 413-528-1253, www.stephenfilmus.com

frOnT STreeT GALLerykate knaPP

Pastels, oils, acrylics and watercolors…..abstract andrepresentational…..landscapes, still lifes and portraits….aunique variety of painting technique and styles….you willbe transported to another world and see things in a way younever have before…. join us and experience something dif-ferent.

Painting classes continue on Monday and Wednesdaymornings 10-1:30pm at the studio and thursday morningsout in the field. these classes are open to all...come to oneor come again if it works for you. all levels and materialswelcome.

Classes at Front Street are for those wishing to learn,those who just want to be involved in the pure enjoymentof art, and/or those who have some experience under theirbelt. Perfect if you are seeking fresh insight into watercol-ors, and other mediums. a teacher for many years, kateknapp has a keen sense of each student’s artistic needs totake a step beyond. Perfect setting for setting up still lifes;lighting and space are excellent. Peek in to see!

Front Street Gallery – Front Street, Housatonic, MA.Gallery open by appointment or chance. 413-528-9546 or413-429-7141 (cell).

nOWJk laWSon

on Sunday, december 5 from 3-5pm lauren Clark Fineart presents a poetry ready of noW by author, painter, andpoet Jk lawson. this extraordinary collection of beltingpoems takes you by surprise and speaks with unexpectedtenderness. Please join us for a reading and book signing.

as david Scribner, editor of the Berkshire edge writes,“this remarkable collection of poems resonates with a pro-found understanding of the ironies of the human conditionwhile conveying an abiding indignation at the hypocrisiesof human behavior”.

Published in the uk by Westwords Press, these poemsare at once joyful and angry, celebratory and tragic, ravingand utterly sensible. the idiom here is perfectly americanyet with an air of British detachment. now is powered bythe diving pulse of spoken language, the heart-beat ofpumping syntax, the natural pause of the line and stanza-break.

John lawson lives with his family in BerkshireCounty and is a regular contributor to the Berkshire edge.

Lauren Clark Fine Art - 25 Railroad Street, Great Bar-rington, MA.; 413-528-0432, [email protected], www.laurenClarkFineart.com

kate knaPP, Winter SunSet, 24 x 36”, oil on CanvaS, 2015,


harryet: i love your photography. it’s as if the vieweris entering the many different worlds from which youcreate. The images bring up so many questions, forwhich there may or may not be answers. Mysterious,intriguing, complicated and symbolic, going backand forth in time, asking what is real and what is fan-tasy—you use many different methods of photogra-phy, and i can’t quite tell which are conventional andwhich are those you’ve come up with through sheerexperimentation. Peggy, explain your motivation andgoals in creating your art.PeGGy reeVeS: it’s common for people to ask ques-tions about process when viewing my work. often thejourney that i undertake to produce a certain kind of im-agery is multi-layered and sometimes quite far from tra-ditional photography. i’m primarily focused on

process-based photography, which can come in manyforms; historic and contemporary methods may be com-bined in the same piece. i must admit that i enjoy ob-serving people, trying to figure out what they are lookingat. if the “how was that made” question brings themclose to a deeper experience with the art, i’m happy toprovide some mystery.

And, what about this person that you are, sur-rounded by all this art that you produce… who areyou?Peggy: i like to putter with things, which may be a ge-netic imperative. Both my parents were inventive in thekitchen. the studio is not very different from a kitchenor a laboratory, and i often follow recipes to make light-sensitive chemical emulsions. the work, however,

comes more from my need for a spiritual connection tothe world and to myself, than from a love of measuringgrams of potassium ferrocyanide. Many variables are atplay: the strength of the chemicals, the amount of mois-ture in the paper, the relative intensity of available actiniclight… but it’s the “not knowing” that inspires more ex-perimentation and risk. the creative energy is activatedwhen intentions are thwarted by a loss of control overthe expected outcome.

Peggy, tell us a little about your background. Whatfirst inspired you to take photographs?Peggy: the thread of my involvement with photographystarts in childhood. i have to attribute my social/culturalawakening to books like “the Family of Man” and thephoto essays in the Life magazines that were in my homein the 50’s and 60’s. images of the ephemeral world,something that digital cameras do so well today, cap-tured my attention and broadened my desire to experi-ence other cultures. the making of a photograph (asopposed to taking a picture) happened in college and, atthe time, was the closest i’d ever come to giving birth. iwas smitten with the darkroom and the process of grow-ing a fully-formed image from a bath of chemicals. ex-posure to works by edward Weston, alfred Stieglitz andparticularly Minor White encouraged me to see throughthe lens of my camera in a slower, more personal way.in the early 90s, when the Southern Berkshire regionalSchool district built the new high school, i lobbied fora gang darkroom, where my photography students builtpinhole cameras and created their own homemade photo

PeGGy reeVeSPHotoGraPHer

peGGy reeveS: iNFrared, PROMENADE, GedNey FarM, toNed

peGGy reeveS, WOMAN WITH EPILETS, CoLLaGeMixed Media, CharCoaL, CyaNotypevaN dyke BrowN, photo traNSFer

interview by Harryet Candee


papers. the science of photography, optics andchemistry began to take center stage in myown studio practice. i took workshops withexperts in historic and alternate photoprocesses, and continue to seek out inspira-tional teachers whenever possible. now, how-ever, i’m more grounded in the twenty-firstcentury, and spend less and less time in thedarkroom, making my negatives digitally in-stead of using chemicals.

i love the idea of using infrared to producea photo. how is it done, and does it stand inthe forefront or the background of your fa-vorite ways to create an image?Peggy: a camera with an infrared sensor seesthe infrared light reflected off objects. thehuman eye is incapable of seeing this part ofthe spectrum, and therefore when converted toobservable light in Photoshop, the resultantimage is a revelation. this opens new doors forinterpretation. a photograph may point be-yond itself and, with infrared, there is a cele-bration of light that, with even the mostmundane subject can provide an extended mo-ment of awareness.

There is no way to look at any of these im-ages for less than two minutes… there is somuch to observe. it’s as if the viewer is

hands-on in this experiential place, beingthere, with you behind the lens. Dream-like,grey tonalities, spiral shapes and illusionarymisty effects… what have you cooked upwith this series of work? And, not that theviewer really needs to know in order to ex-perience this, but what are Pinhole andzone Plate photography? Please educate us.Peggy: you may already know how similar acamera is to the human eye. the shutter (eye-lid), the aperture (pupil), film/sensor (retina)and light-tight box (skull) are the basic parts.Suffice it to say, a pinhole camera is a verysimple machine and anyone can make one. Myteacher, eric renner, has made pinhole cam-eras out of red peppers, old suitcases, holes inthe ground and empty altoid boxes, to name afew. the diameter of the aperture determinesthe amount of focus of objects near and faraway. the smaller the aperture, the greater thefocus in depth. exposure times are very longcompared to the fractions of a second of aCanon or nikon. Sometimes it’s this kind oflow tech equipment that brings me closer to anintuitive understanding of reality, slows medown to look at things. Zone plate photogra-phy is more about the refraction of light pass-ing through the aperture.

Continued on next PaGe...

PEGGY REEVES, ORACLE, ARCHIVAL PIGMENT PRINTS: ANCESTOR SERIES

peGGy reeveS, DALE BROUGHT US TOGETHER, CyaNotype aNd photo traNSFer

peGGy reeveS, MADONNA OF THE TREE 2Mixed Media, CharCoaL, CyaNotype, vaN dyke BrowN, photo traNSFer


By increasing the circles of refraction, light gets dispersedand images take on an otherworldly mystical appearance.

Peggy, tell us a little bit about combining encausticsand photography. And your collage/montage fantasythemes are just magical to my eyes. Please explain thisbody of work.Peggy: i must have been a beekeeper in a previous life,because wax has been part of my art making since my firstbox of Crayolas. Batik was my medium throughoutthe 70’s and 80’s, where wax serves as a resist, repellingdyes on absorbent materials. When mixed with varnishand pigments, molten wax can be an extremely permanent

painting medium. Clear encaustic medium will also pro-vide protection over photographs and create a visual veilwhich can be interesting. the harsh theatrical stage lightsof the drama Series portraits are softened by many layersof clear wax.

Do you have a strong feeling towards the past, as inimages you’ve created that bring the past to life?Though time does not stand still, you can capture aghost-like image of a woman and essentially give hera second round! is there a challenge for you here, oneyou’re working on mastering?Peggy: i’m interested in the relationship of photography

to memory, and how images can confirm or distort oursense of time. i began collecting vintage glass negativesand photographs because of their delicate beauty and thepresence of a sentient being who lived, breathed anddressed for an important record of their lives. i know noneof their names but have given them titles, a new life andperhaps some respect as a collage or archival pigmentprint. the challenge is to create new memories and, in theprocess, pay homage to this unknown persona. in “ora-cle” for example, the lady with the feathery blouse iswearing a headdress i made for a character in the CastleHill theater Company’s production of “Jack and theBeanstalk.” the composite has timeless mythical presencethat neither one had separately.

.What is a chemigram? What is this photographicworld you’ve created all about? Did you create thisprocess, or are other photographers acquainted withit as well? it sounds complicated, and looks even moreso… aerial views, microscopic worlds and overlappingtransparent forms, recognizable yet unknown to ournormal vocabulary of objects.Peggy: i didn’t invent this process, which is relativelynew to the photographic lexicon. it’s not surprising thatthere are few practitioners because there’s a high degreeof toxicity and lots of surprises in the behavior of the ma-terials. again, like with batik, i work with resists. Photopapers that may be outdated still have the ability to reactto the traditional darkroom chemicals and, over extendedtreatment with them, will breakdown the resists and createastounding shapes, lines and tonal variations. i’m verymuch in the experimental stages of learning the craft as-pects of this process. a new series of images inspired byelizabeth kolbert’s book “the Sixth extinction” may takea few epochs to complete, since i can only work on thesepieces outdoors. i think the syntax of the chemigram toillustrate the organic disintegration of the planet frozen intime fits with, when completed, what will likely be called“tropes of the anthropocene.”

PeGGy reeVeS PhOTOGrAPher

PEGGY REEVES, SAMHAIN WHEEL, 2014, 16X20, CHEMIGRAM

peGGy reeveS, BIENNALE 1 UNTITLED, iphoNe photoGraphS, arChivaL piGMeNt priNtS,

PEGGY REEVES: "TROPES OF THE ANTHROPOCENE," SERIES, "MUSHROOM"


What gives you the most pleasure in shoot-ing in a foreign locale? is it the people? Theworld they’ve created? Their lifestyle thatboth differs from and resembles your own?Peggy: the world is a visually seductiveplace, and a photographer in a foreign countrycan easily be lured by the new. Film in a cam-era demanded a selectivity which digital pho-tography has eliminated. So the question isnot what to shoot but rather, what to print.the images that speak most clearly to me areabout the feeling of being in a place and time,closer to the soul of the experience. it maybe a tender moment between a mother and herchild, a happening on the street, a texturalstudy of the side of a building, a landscapethat captures a particular quality of light.

even though you show your work with ahealthy artist’s attitude, some of it feelsvery personal and almost private. is therework you won’t ever share? Peggy: My work usually starts with a camerabut most often winds up quite far from theoriginal photograph. i rarely share the travelphotos in their out-of-the-camera state butyou may find them in a mixed media piece,having been filtered through whatever artistic sensibilityi’m engaging with at the moment. i’m very grateful forthe theater work i’ve done at Mixed Company, Castle Hill,new Stage and rogue angel, which has supplied me witha rich archive of images to play around with over theyears. i also garbage-pick, which is the source of my treas-ure troves of filmstrips cleaned out from the library at Mt.everett. the development of my work can be traced

through the use of this storehouse of images and the manymethods and techniques available to me. aided by themuses that choose to be kind to me that day, i can happilymarry image (content) and medium. the toolbox hasgrown quite large.

Studying the nude is essential for becoming agood artist. in photography, as opposed to,say, drawing the nude, what is important tolook for in order to make a successful shot?Peggy: it took me a bit of time to figure out howto photograph the nude. Questions related to en-vironment, pose, props and of course light needto be directed and designed to fit the particularmodel and place. then there’s the issue of nudityand the fit of an unclothed body in a particularspace making sense, appropriate to the moodand the meaning of the scene. lots to thinkabout even before the camera, its lens and expo-sure is determined. i’ve been lucky to work withbrave and beautiful women who have partneredwith me and my camera to make some memo-rable images together.

There isn’t one piece of art that you havemade that i wouldn’t hang on my walls in aninstant, or rave about to art devotees. Tell me,what have you risked to be able to spend thisamount of time on your creations?Peggy: there have been few risks or sacrificesin my life that have enabled me to make mywork. i’ve always been able to tap into my cre-ative energies with some restrictions on avail-

able time from family obligations and teaching. However,i am very fortunate to have had a career as an art educatorand to have taught photography as one of the coursesavailable to students. immersion in art as a teacher greatlyinformed my own approaches to art making.

Thank you, Peggy!

H

(aBove) peGGy reeveS: eNCauStiC over photo traNSFer, draMa SerieS, draMa 4

(riGht) peGGy reeveS: woMeN iN ShroudS, piGMeNt priNt oN “BraiLLe” paper

(BeLow) peGGy reeveS: MadoNNa oF the New worLd, Mixed Media, CharCoaL, CyaNotype, vaN dyke BrowN, photo traNSFer

fine Line MuLTiMeDiA live PerForManCe

PHotoGraPHy and videoFine line Multimedia provides single or multi-camera

video of music, dance and theater performances. Servicesinclude: scripting and storyboard art, videography withprofessional high definition cameras, high quality audiorecording, sensitive lighting design and creative editingwith the latest non-linear editing system.

For the past 45 years Fine line Multimedia has pro-vided audio/video performance production for the BostonSymphony orchestra at tanglewood, Berkshire Perform-ing arts Center, national Music Foundation, recordingfor the Blind and dyslexic, united Way of the Berkshires,arlo Guthrie, rising Son records, Bobby Sweet, WorldMoja, Phil Woods, Grace kelly, Heather Fisch, operanouveau, ellen Sinopoli dance Company and manymore.

Fine line was established in 1970 by lee everett inlenox, Massachusetts. everett came to the Berkshiresafter studying advertising design and visual Communi-cations at Pratt institute and working for years as an artdirector in new york. He taught art in local schools andbegan a full-service multimedia studio in lenox special-izing in the Performing and visual arts and other businessand industry.

With Photography, Graphic design, advertising, Mar-keting, audio/video Production, Website, Social network

Creation and administration together under one roof,Fine line can satisfy the artistic communications andpromotional needs of a wide range of clients.

Please look at some examples from our portfoliosof work on our website and use the contact informa-tion on the site to get further information, to see moresamples, photographs or video reels, for professionaland client references or for a free project consulta-tion.Fine Line Multimedia - 66 Church Street, Lenox, MA;www.finelinelenox.comContact: Lee Everett, 413-637-2020, [email protected]

SnOW DAyJennifer PAzienzA

Snow day celebrates my love of coming through asnowstorm and being granted a snow day…aka, a day offfrom school. a “get out of jail free” card. the childhoodgiddiness of it comes rushing forward. the promise ofbeing given a day to stay home and make pancakes forbreakfast on a weekday, or stay in my pajamas and readbooks. or, better still throw on my snow pants and snow-shoes and head out to my studio for an unplanned day ofpainting; an event like no other, one that fills me with a joythat can only be described as magical! What a privilege.What a blessing.

in the november issue of The Artful Mind Phil Pryjmaof the St. Francis Gallery in South lee, where Snow dayis currently on exhibition, tells us that this is the season of“magic, miracles and giving,” and indeed it is. Snow dayis my way of making visible the gift that is a snow day. ihope you will bask in the miracle of the winter sun as it il-luminates the landscape i recreated in paint one very spe-cial Snow day.

Jennifer Pazienza’s work is held in Public, Private andCorporate Collections in the uS, Canada and italy. TheMagic of Light and Small Miracles, Group Show @ the St.Francis Gallery, South lee, Ma. (next to the Fire Station)october 31- december 23.

Jennifer Pazienza - http://jenniferpazienza.com; email:[email protected]

WinDOW inTO TheWOrLD Of ArT

Gallery in WinSted, Ct.Marion Haymann and ken Jacobs are passionate about

art. their gallery, Window into the World of art, is dedi-cated to exhibiting the work of emerging artists. theychose to open in Winsted, Ct, because it is a city strivingto develop its artistic side.

the gallery currently features the work of torringtonphotographer Jeff Gettis, whose work represents scenesfrom his imagination, incorporating dream imagery withtraditional influences and contemporary digital photogra-phy.

in mid november they will head off the beaten pathwith an exhibit entitled ‘all in the family’, an eclectic col-lection of art including paintings, drawings, and photo-graphs.

Starting december 12, Window into the World of artwill exhibit iPaintings by nina lipkowitz in a show titledMeditations in light & Color. using the touch screen ofher iPad and her finger, nina creates paintings in light byturning the iPad into an art tool with endless sheets of vir-tual paper which can be “painted” with infinite marks,brushes and colors, and which her husband, photographerJohn lipkowitz, turns into beautiful archival, pigmentprints. nina lipkowitz will be at the gallery for the show’sopening on december 12 from 4 – 7pm to welcome youand talk about the process involved in creating her iPaint-ings.

Window Into the World of Art Gallery - 716 Main St.,Winsted, CT; 203-243-3069: Gallery Hours: Wednesday– Saturday from 1-5pm; www.windowworldart.com


JenniFer PaZienZa, SnoW day, 2015 42 x 40.5 in. oil on CanvaS

The actor, to give a natural effect, should forgetnot only his four limbs but perhaps the fifth, hishead; but he must feel what he acts, love, anger

jealousy . . . and if he really feels all these emotions. . . they will of themselves germinate . . .

and move him in the right action. -- Luigi Riccoboni --1728.


MArGueriTe BriDeWinter WaterColorS

a true new englander, Marguerite Bride loves the winterand it shows in her paintings. Winter in the Berkshires is amagical time…quaint town scenes, fields, streets andforests turn into a winter wonderland. a wide selection ofher winter originals and reproductions (framed and un-framed) are on display at Mary’s Carrot Cake Shop, unionStreet, Pittsfield from mid-november until January.

enjoy a warm beverage and a delightful sweet while youare there. the shop is open 11am to 2pm tuesday – Fridayand/or by appointment with the artist. Stop in during Pitts-field’s december artswalk 5-8 pm to meet the artist andenjoy refreshments.

Fine art reproductions and note cards of Berkshire im-ages and others by the artist are available at the red lioninn Gift Shop (Stockbridge), lenox Print & Mercantile(lenox), and St. Francis Gallery (So lee). Seasonal scenesare always on display in the public areas of the CrownePlaza in Pittsfield. or visit Bride’s studio by appointment.

Commissions are always welcome. For holiday gift giv-ing, a personalized gift certificate for a custom painting isalways a treasure to give and to receive.

Marguerite Bride – Home Studio at 46 Glory Drive,Pittsfield, Massachusetts by appointment only. Call 413-841-1659 or 413-442-7718; margebride-paintings.com;[email protected] Facebook: Marguerite Bride Water-colors.

DeniSe B ChAnDLerFine art PHotoartiSt

“the Holidays are the one time of year that it is accept-able to be as outrageous with color, decorations, andadornment as one would like...” it is in that vein thatdenise B Chandler will be exhibiting three of her largecolor abstracts at the 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson,new york for the month of december.

denise B. Chandler is represented by Sohn Fine artGallery at 69 Church St. in lenox, Massachusetts wherevarious selections of her work can be seen throughout theyear.

Chandler offers private gallery visits at her personalstudio/gallery by appointment only.

Denise B Chandler, Studio & Gallery - 415 New LenoxRd, Lenox, MA. Visits by appointment only. Please calland leave a message at either 413-637-2344 or 413-281-8461. Website: denisebchandler.com Email: [email protected]

SAinT frAnCiS GALLeryMAGiC Of LiGhT AnD SMALL

MirACLeSinfluenced by a season of spiritual magic, diminishing

light, and an awareness of the change that happens to all ofus as the earth puts to rest its growing cycle, the St. Francisgallery transforms itself once again. it is also a perfect timeto visit the gallery and its ever growing selection of creativeartists. as the outer world sheds its color the display of ourartists work is a welcomed treat.

the magic in the gallery is layers of color in oil, water-color, wax, charcoal, graphite, acrylic and many moremediums shaped by the hands, eyes, and minds of talentedlocal individuals determined to enrich our lives with theircreations. the setting of the church itself provides a settingfor display that enhances this goal and could provide a de-lightful personal transformative experience.

art has the wonderful potential to expand our circles ofknowing to include many new surprises. engaging withthe art in the gallery is not a passive experience and not eas-ily explained. like poetry it is embedded in the work yousee and engage with. Something will always draw you to aparticular art work as you puzzle it out for yourself withthis universal quest to understand and explore this connec-tion with the artist and their creation. our artists often havemany years of talent and experience to draw from. theyare always trying to continue their exploration in new andfresh ways, always hoping to come close to some universaltruth that will touch us in some way to see something withnew eyes for the first time. yet somehow this somethingwe seemed to recognize we find has always beeninside ourselves. art enables us to see this.

the gallery also has wonderful and meaningfulgifts for the holidays all of these purchases support-ing creative humanitarian work.

We also would like at this time to thank all ofthose who have supported our gallery visitors andartists and its mission in the community and inafrica. after this show which continues thru themonth of december the gallery will close for thisyear and reopen in the spring for our new season.

St. Francis Gallery - Rte. 102, South Lee just 2miles east from the Red Lion Inn. Gallery hours:Friday thru Monday 10-5pm.

artiSt, ivor Parry

deniSe B CHandler, Coke

MarGuerite Bride, red lion inn, Winter

There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gentlyawful stirrings seem to speak of some

hidden soul beneath.

--Herman Melville

Harryet Candee: Jana, congrats on your newbook! How appropriate it is to create a book filledwith photos of the red Lion Inn and celebrating thelife and times of its ambassador, Simon the cat!Shows your appreciation and affection for animalsand the Berkshires. What lit a fire to start such aheart-warming, fun book?Jana LaIZ: Thanks so much Harryet! I’m thrilledabout my newest book, Simon Says ~ Tails of the RedLion Inn Ambassador. I do love animals, and the Berk-shires. That’s for sure. I’m happy to say my books arecarried at The Red Lion Inn Gift Shop, and whenever Igo there, I see Simon the cat. I learned about his “job”as lobby ambassador, and that Jayne Church, his“mom,” is the gift shop manager. We would marvel overthis wonderfully smart cat. Several years ago, Jayne andI discussed writing a book about Simon. He’s such acelebrity at The Red Lion. He has a huge following! Shehas a stack of photos, drawings, stories, letters andpoems by guests and fans of Simon, all about him. Abig stack! Time went by, we both were so busy, and thensuddenly, the time seemed right to get started. And sowe did! I had been thinking of giving Simon a voice,and over the years Jayne has written many anecdotalstories about Simon and many in his voice. We beganto collaborate and came up with what we think isSimon’s true voice. And an adorable story.

did you enjoy working on this with Jayne Church? Jana: I love working with Jayne. We have very similar

senses of humor and we are both “moms” of many res-cued animals. We work really well together, and areabout to begin another Simon tale/tail. Who knows, wemight use materials from that big stack! We have fun,and that’s so important when collaborating.

How did you choose nancy-Fay Hecker to do thephotography, which, by the way makes this bookinto such a treasure, of course along with the storyyou wrote—so eloquent and charming! I admit tonot reading it thoroughly yet, but I will! I can seethe laborious love that went into the making of thisbeautifully printed book—perfect for all ages too, bythe way!Jana: Thank you! I agree! The photos are so captivat-ing. Nancy-Fay has been photographing Simon foryears. Her postcards of him are bestsellers in the giftshop. She has created Simon magnets and bookmarks.People LOVE Simon and Nancy-Fay’s photos of him.She somehow captures all his moods. It’s quite remark-able. At first Jayne and I were thinking of having illus-trations and some photos, and we wanted to use someof Nancy-Fay’s photos for the book. We set up a meet-ing with her and the three of us just connected. It wasmagic. Right then and there, we decided to simply makethe book with our text and her photos. What a team!

you mentioned that you own a couple of canine crea-tures. Who are they and what are their names? youmust have fun with them. I am inclined to believe

that you are not only an animal lover, but a consci-entious environmentalist; the Simon Says book iscreated from all natural fiber and ink.Jana: I am mom to Allie and Maeve, twin fifteen-year-old (feral) tabby cats, Lila, a fourteen-year-old miniaturedachshund and Loki, my two-year-old pit-bull. Loki andI love to hike together and Lila hates to be left alone,but hates to hike (her legs are about two and a halfinches), so she rides on my back in a backpack. Yes, Iam quite a conscientious environmentalist. My booksare all printed by companies that are part of the GreenPress Initiative, which promises the use of either recy-cled paper or reforesting efforts, as well as using veg-


autHor/ teaCHer /PuBliSHer JAnA LAizInterview by Harryet Candee Photography by Lee Everett

Oh, Jana!

etable-based inks. My books are all Rainforest AllianceCertified. Even my website is solar powered. The TwelfthStone is my eco-fantasy, which, I am SO proud to say, isendorsed by one of my eco-heroes, Bill McKibben. It’sall about treading lightly on the planet and what can hap-pen when we don’t.

you’re not originally from the Berkshires. Can youtell us how you found your way to these parts? youcan go back to the part where you got your in withthe Vietnamese immigrants—I love that story.Jana: I’ve been here for thirty years, so I like to think ofmyself as a local, but I’m actually from Westchester, NY.The suburbs. When I was seventeen years old, I was hav-ing a rough time in high school. The school had hundredsof kids in it. It was overwhelming to me. I didn’t fit inand felt quite isolated, and I never found my niche there.I was pretty miserable. One day I saw a news report onTV about the “Boat People”—refugees from Vietnam—and something moved me to want to help them. MaybeI saw them suffering more than I could even imagine.Maybe I just needed to get out of myself… I’m not sure,but I took action. I called the TV station that aired the re-port and asked how I could help. They suggested I callthe United Nations, so I did. I talked to a staff memberthere and they kindly directed me to The InternationalRescue Committee, or IRC, a refugee resettlementagency in New York that was dealing with this crisis. Icalled them and asked if I could help. When they foundout how old I was, they told me I could collect donations.The incoming refugees needed lots of things. I said Icould do that. I was disappointed though; I had been hop-ing for a foreign assignment. Ha! The caseworker musthave heard the disappointment in my voice and shepaused and then asked me if I had a car. Well, my grand-father had just given me his old gas-guzzling Dodge. Isaid, “Yes!” And because of that car, my life changed. Iwas assigned to five families in the Pelham Parkway areaof The Bronx. I volunteered, visiting refugee familiesevery Saturday. I had found my purpose. I taught themEnglish, played with the children, took them on outings,taught them about American culture. I became a friend.And everything changed. I became a happy person again.I did this for years, every Saturday. (We’re still con-nected!) My parents were very supportive of me and en-couraged me to do this work. My parents also rented aski house on Lake Buel in Monterey—my Berkshire con-nection! We are all avid cross-country skiers and wewould spend winters here in the early 80’s. After college,where I majored in Mandarin Chinese and Anthropology,

I got a real position at IRC and became a resettlementcaseworker. I had my very own office and clients fromVietnam, Cambodia and Laos. I adored my job, thoughnever quite got used to New York City. I’m a country girlat heart. Well, a few years into my job, President Reaganslashed the non-profit budget to smithereens and I lostmy beloved job. I was newly married at the time, andwith no job and nothing to keep me tied to New York,(my husband moved his office to Albany) we moved toNorth Egremont, where I opened an Asian artifact andantique shop, Trade Winds. After I lost my job at IRC Ibecame a tour guide, leading tours to mainland Chinaand collecting a lot of items for my little shop. But retailwas not for me, and I went back to school and becamean elementary school teacher. Eventually I specialized inESL, which was as close to refugee resettlement work asI could get. And I began to write in earnest. WeepingUnder This Same Moon chronicles this time in my life.

as far as the english language goes, how did youlearn to write so well? technically speaking, can youtell us a trick or two that you discovered that makeswriting a story flow?Jana: Wow, I’ve been writing since I could form words.I love to write so much; I would like to say it comes nat-urally. Of course some of my work needs to stay in thedrawer. But sometimes, the words come out just right.And I simply keep doing it. It’s a craft and an art, but Ibelieve one that has to be nurtured and exercised. I readmy stories aloud. I think that’s really important. My momor my daughter are usually my victims. When I was writ-ing Weeping Under This Same Moon, I called my motherafter every chapter. I knew that if I made her cry (orlaugh), I’d done my job. When I couldn’t get through thereading without tears, then I knew I was really on tosomething.

I always thought it’s tough for writers to make theirreaders laugh out loud. Wording it just right, and usingthe perfect words to make it a home run straight to funny-ville. And I don’t mean the entire book is one joke, Imean parts can be very serious. How do you bring insomething that is enjoyably funny? Isn’t that a tricky partwhere you have to share your sense of humor and get itacross to the reader that this part of the story is actuallyfunny?I do find it tricky, though I like to think of myself as hav-ing a great sense of humor. I love to laugh. I love to readfunny stuff and when I can write something funny, it’struly a joy. A real accomplishment. David Sedaris andBill Bryson make me laugh out loud. Sedaris had me

pulling my car over after listening to his book on CD. Inearly crashed, I was laughing so hard. I couldn’t see. Iwish I could do that. I’m working on it, and there areparts in The Twelfth Stone and in Weeping Under ThisSame Moon that crack me up. I’m not sure if anyone elsethinks those passages are as funny as I do, but I hope so.I’m working on an immigrant story that takes place in anESL classroom with an eccentric, funny teacher. I hopeI can pull it off! Sometimes I get too serious when I’mwriting. But I know that often the best way to teach any-thing is through laughter/humor, so I’m trying to find myinner comedienne and tap into her. I am not using myselfas the main character in this new book, but I do make myESL students crack up on occasion! (OK, maybe I amthe main character…)

I’ve always thought it’s tough for writers to maketheir readers laugh out loud. Wording it just right,and using the perfect words to make it a home runstraight to funny-ville. and I don’t mean the entirebook is one joke; parts can be very serious. How doyou bring in something that is enjoyably funny? Isn’tthat the tricky part, where you have to share yoursense of humor and get it across to the reader that thispart of the story is actually funny?Jana: I do find it tricky. I love to laugh. I love to readfunny stuff and when I can write something funny, it’struly a joy, a real accomplishment. There are parts in TheTwelfth Stone and in Weeping Under This Same Moonthat crack me up. I’m not sure if anyone else thinks thosepassages are as funny as I do, but that’s OK. I’m workingon a story about an ESL classroom with an eccentric,funny teacher. I hope I can pull it off! I am not using my-self as the main character, but I do make my ESL stu-dents crack up on occasion!

reminds me of the Internet and e-mailing someone.aLL CaPS means you are angry… italics meansyou’re sweet, etcetera… How has the modern worldof computers, Internet-ing and communication ingeneral worked for you?Jana: I love my MacBook Pro. At this point, I couldn’tlive without it. I used to write everything in longhand,but these days I can’t do that. My brain moves too fastfor pen and ink. I do, though, have a tough time now thatI have DSL. I am always connected, and yes, I know Icould turn off my wifi when I write, but I don’t. I’m bet-ter now, but when I used hear that ‘ding’ announcing anew email, I’d become so distracted. These days I haveseveral different email addresses for the different hats I


“A Free Woman onGod’s Earth”,

Top recommended reading list in

nyC reads 365(schools.nyc.gov)Congrats Jana!


wear and I get many emails every day. I’m pretty goodabout answering emails, but I would prefer talk tosomeone than to email or text. I know it’s the new wayof communication, but I actually enjoy talking on thephone! I love my iPhone 5, but at home, I have a realphone that is attached to the wall with a curly long cordthat has no caller ID. I like surprises. My kids think I’mnuts. I have rotary phones all throughout the house.Very retro. I don’t write with a quill pen, as I said, Icould not live without my computer, and I do love myhigh speed wifi, so who am I kidding! But thankfullynow I have a place where I can work uninterrupted andInternet free!

Herman Melville’s house?Yes!

you have the privilege of being able to sit at his deskand drum up thoughts—feel his energy, knowingyou are the first person, really, to sit in his chairsince his novel Moby Dick came out in 1851. Howwere you granted such an honor?Jana: Incredible. What a privilege! I do get to sit at histable, in front of the very window from which he lookedout, seeing Mt. Greylock and imagining his whitewhale. My friend saw an article in the Eagle announcingthis Writer-In-Residency position. She thought I shouldapply. I told her I didn’t know much about Melville. Iread Moby Dick in high school and didn’t understandit. But I had read and loved Bartleby and Billy Budd, soI thought, why not! I applied. I guess my essay wascompelling enough to land me this position. And nowI’m writing a children’s biography of Herman Melville,and I’m having so much fun with it. I even re-readMoby Dick and loved it. Guess I was ready. So I sit thereand imagine Herman sitting next to me. Of course I tryto channel him. I get tremendous inspiration there. Thestaff and I created a program for students called “In-spired By Melville ~ Writing About Place” that we offerto schools. I’ve visited a bunch of schools in BerkshireCounty, introducing kids to Herman Melville and to meand hopefully getting them jazzed about writing.

Jana, I want to read Moby Dick now. and visit hishome in Pittsfield now that you have inspired me.and next comes to mind the friendships and work-ing partnerships and educational outlets you havegained and shared through the Berkshire Festival ofWomen Writers, created by Jennifer Browdy, thatclever woman! Is there no end to such great thingspeople are creating here in the Berkshires?Jana: So many creative people here! And yes, what aclever woman is Jennifer Browdy. And what a goodfriend! Jennifer and I met years ago and have embarkedas publishing partners in a brand new publishing ven-ture, Green Fire Press. We published our very first book,an anthology called Writing Fire, featuring over sixtywomen writers from here and everywhere. It’s a gem.There is such strong and wonderful writing in it. Essays,poems, short pieces, even a mini graphic novel! Wehave another anthology in the works and are publishingseveral more books. It’s a curated press, so we are look-ing for submissions. We’re want to support authors inproducing really high-quality books in pretty much anygenre; fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose. We wantedto create a collaborative community of writers, editorsand publishing professionals. And we want to focus onhelping get our author's vision across as powerfully aspossible. We’re very excited about it!And of course the Berkshire Festival of Women Writ-

ers has truly created a loving, supportive community ofcreative people. I’m proud to be a part of it! I have lotsof new friends because of it. Thanks to Jennifer!

My friend Nancy Tunnicliffe, a world-renownedHighland bagpiper and I have created a program we callPiping & Penning. We introduce children (and adults)to the music and folklore of Scotland. We use my Celticfantasy novel The Twelfth Stone as a jumping-off point,and get writing to the drones of the pipes. It’s magical.I wrote a book about my dear friend's son Thomas andhis little chicken, Autumn, illustrated by another friend,Melody Lea Lamb! I’ve made remarkable friendshipsbecause of my writing. Ann-Elizabeth Barnes and I areco-authors of “A Free Woman On God’s Earth,” thestory of Mumbet, and are dear friends. And now, JayneChurch and Nancy-Fay Hecker. And you!

What will you be doing at the festival this year?Jana: I’ll be on a panel about the world of publishing.Check the Festival magazine for times and dates! Andthis year the festival is going to extend throughout theyear with workshops, so I’d love to do my Melvilleworkshop again… fifteen people get to write with mein Herman’s study. I’ve had packed workshops for thepast several years. It’s wonderful.

you have a passion for teaching. Where and whendo you nurture kids with your fun teaching practicesof story-writing and inspiration? Was it somethingyou had built-in since you were a child?Jana: I do have a passion for teaching. I love it. I lovewatching kids suddenly “get it” and I love seeing theexpressions on their faces when they do. I never thoughtI could be a teacher or a speaker; I’m pretty shy by na-ture. But I have found my voice. When I teach, I haveno fear. And I have been invited by many schools andorganizations to be keynote speaker, and so far, I’ve got-ten rave reviews. When I think about how shy I was inschool, I am astonished I can do this. But I think I amso enthusiastic about writing that I can’t help but inspireeveryone I work with. I really get into it when I’m infront of students. I’ve also been asked to speak on sub-jects I write about. I recently spoke at Bryn Mawr to agroup of teens and young adults from an organizationcalled Project Common Bond, a part of Tuesday’s Chil-dren. These are kids from around the world who havebeen affected by war and terrorism. They each receiveda copy of my book, Weeping Under This Same Moon.I spoke about my life as a teenage volunteer and howgoing outside our comfort zone and helping those inneed can have far reaching effects. My talk was accom-panied by a slide presentation –my refugee family andme from the 1970s. The kids loved it. And then wewrote. My God, the writing that came from that eventwas profound and cathartic. It was one of the most re-warding experiences of my career.

What do you think makes a person crave self-ex-pression through the arts? Why is it, do you think,that childhood is the best time to promote to kidsthese wonderful creative experiences, which they’llnever forget and will want more of, even afterthey’ve entered that age of saying about their cre-ations, “Uchh, this is awful! Oh, I can’t do it!!”Jana: The younger the better! I think humans have aninnate desire to create. I visited the Lascaux Caves and

autHor viSit

AUTHOR / TEACHER / PUBLISHER JANA LAIZ

600 CHildren liSteninG to My Book read in tHai


saw those paintings on the cave walls. 17,000-year-oldstories! And think of Shakespeare, still wildly popularafter 400 years. I minored in photography in college andhad a jewelry studio before I started my first novel. I haveto create. But I do think we need to get kids involved inthe arts from early on. Before they get to that “I can’t”stage. I have a rule when I’m teaching: No “I can’t” al-lowed. And as teachers we need to encourage them. Wedon’t always have to say “good job” to everything ourkids do, but we do need to encourage self-expression andartistic expression, and nurture it. And the arts can comein so many forms. I love brainstorming with kids aboutwhat kind of artist they are. We come up with very longlists!

a well-rounded background in all the arts, I think,makes learning math and science easier to grasp—atany age! What is your opinion? are we doing enoughhere in the Berkshires to back up this positive way oflearning?I totally agree. The arts make everything richer. Therecan be beauty in every subject, but it’s so much more en-hanced through the arts. Can you imagine teaching sci-ence without an artsy bent? How could a science teachernot recognize the beauty of leaves, snowflakes—worksof art! And think of math and how it relates to music.Dance too. Measures and numbers, beats… Being well-rounded in the arts is critical for a well-rounded life. Andthank you for including writing as an art form. When peo-ple ask me if I am an illustrator, I tell them, no way, butI can paint pictures with my words. Is enough being donein the Berkshires? I think we are an incredible artisticcommunity, and we infuse this into our schools and lives.We have it all here: dance, drama, music, writing, visualarts—you name it, we have it! My daughter just gradu-ated from acting school in NYC, and that was in majorpart due to her experience at Mt. Everett with Shake-speare & Company. What a gift that company gives tothe community! And Berkshire Theater Group and itsplaywriting for kids! Jacob’s Pillow! And one of my ESLstudents attended Tanglewood’s summer program. AndFlying Cloud… oh, I could go on! We live in the BESTplace for the arts.

reveal your secret to us Jana! What do you have incommon with faeries??Jana: What I have in common with faeries, hmmn. Likefaeries, I love the earth, and I believe in magic. I thinkit’s pretty much everywhere, if you know where to look.And I can be quite mischievous. I have a thing for themoon too, love that orb. I feel very connected to the ele-ments. I feel the energy from trees and rocks. The TwelfthStone is all about that connection to the earth, and faeries,of course. Of course I love all things Celtic. Many faeriescome from Scotland and Ireland, and the music fromthose isles is magical. I bet you didn’t know I used tohave my own Celtic music radio show. It aired for a yearon Great Barrington’s WBCR-LP. It was called Wide isthe Door, A Celtic Ceilidh. I listened to Celtic musicpretty near constantly while I was writing my faerienovel. Made my family a bit nuts, but it was how I wentinto that land. Faerie, that is.

Okay, and what is your relationship to MUMBet??this is a biggy for you, yes?Jana:Mumbet. What a hero. She’s mine, for sure. Writ-ing her story with Ann-Elizabeth Barnes is one of myproudest achievements. When I was teaching ESL inPittsfield, I had several African refugee students, and Iwanted to read them a story about an African Americanhero/heroine. I remembered hearing about a slave fromour local area who was very special. She had sued for herfreedom and won. So I looked her up in our library butfound nothing. There were no books for kids about her. I

searched, but nothing. So, I thought, why not write abouther? But I needed help, and very serendipitously I learnedabout Ann-Elizabeth Barnes, our local Mumbet expert. Iwent to hear a lecture she was giving on Mumbet andasked her if she wanted to collaborate on a children’sbook about her. She said yes and we began. It was anamazing adventure, writing the story of this enslavedwoman who had the courage and conviction to sue forher freedom and win, right in Great Barrington! And thenI approached illustrator Jacqueline Rogers, who loved thestory and illustrated the book. We are so proud of this lit-tle book, “A Free Woman On God’s Earth.” And thebiggy part: it’s been optioned for film and we are workingon it now! Who knows, maybe filming will begin soon,right here in the Berkshires! I also just produced an audiobook, narrated by Nigerian American actress, AdenreleOjo. Her narration is truly moving. It’s available on au-dible.com, Amazon and ITunes. How cool is that!

We are all so busy creating. tell me if I’m wrong, butyou are an amazing organizer, correct? What is the

underlying cause for such energy and enthusiasm? I have the need to_______ because___________…..Jana: Oh boy. Here’s the hard truth. When it comes tolaundry and filing, I am organizationally challenged. Ilike to think it’s because I’m one of those creative types.Please, call first before coming over. But I can organizea story in my head! When it comes to writing, I’ve gotmore than enough energy and enthusiasm to spare. OK,I have the need to create because my imagination wouldoverflow and spill out all over if I had no outlet. How’sthat?

How did you start your own publishing house? Is thata difficult thing to make happen? does it give you therights to publish anything you write, or anyone else’swriting? How does that work?Jana: What’s the quickest way from here to there? As thecrow flies, right? Well, I had been writing for years andsending stuff out and getting thoroughly rejected. Andthen one day I sent the manuscript of what is now TheTwelfth Stone to an agent. CONTINUED...

Jana Laiz at desk that belonged to Herman Melville HerMan Melville HouSe, PittSField, MaPHotoGraPHed By lee everett


A big one. She loved it. She called me and asked me ifshe could take it on. She said it reminded her of herchildhood in England, that it was magical and “deli-ciously disgusting.” (You have to read it.) Well, she did-n’t see it, but I did several somersaults while I was onthe phone. Yes, please! So she took it on, but she hadtrouble selling it. It’s a YA crossover and at that time,those types of books hadn’t caught on. Thanks to JK,they finally did. I got the most amazing rejections,things like, “we loved it but don’t know how to fit it inour list.” I wanted to say, just make room for it! Buteventually, we parted ways and I decided to try it my-self. I started Crow Flies Press. I published WeepingUnder This Same Moon first, and I worked at selling itlike a crazy person. And it started winning awards,awards I never even knew about. And then I publishedMartin Meader’s wacky tale for kids, The Adventures ofCharlie & Moon, which, by the way, our very own Al-ison Larkin narrated as an audio book. And so on. Notterribly difficult, but WORK. I hired the best designersand typesetters and I am proud to say, my books arebeautiful. Weeping Under This Same Moon has beentranslated into two languages so far. It’s a best seller inKorea! Go figure!

I remember you had a newspaper publication forkids, the Kids’ Onion! I know it was a hell of a lot ofwork, but you built up this work ethic from it, which

led you to greater things. In what ways is this truefor you? The Kids’ Onion… Just Peel Through It. I loved thatnewspaper. I started it about the same time as you beganyour wonderful magazine. The Women’s Times alsobegan around the same time, early 90s. It was tremen-dously hard work, as you well know. It was very re-warding too, but hard work. Too hard for me, by myself.My son was about 4 and my daughter was a tiny babywhen I started it. I used to drag the babysitter in the carwith me on my deliveries. I dropped off hundreds of pa-pers to schools and places all over Berkshire County,from Sheffield to Williamstown. It was tiring. My kidsare great car riders, thankfully!

What made you want to start a newspaper for theBerkshires to start with? your need to communicate,perhaps?Jana: I wanted to write mainly, but I also wanted toshare. So many people at that time would say that therewas nothing to do for kids in the Berkshires, and I knewthey were wrong, so I went out and proved it. There wasa ton going on if you knew where to look, and the Kids’Onion was the first to have a kids’ calendar of events.One woman told me she actually moved to the Berk-shires because of the Kids’ Onion. Anyway, I thought Icould share my writing, but then it felt too narcissisticto do that, so instead I featured other writers, and of

course children’s writing. Jennifer Browdy publishedher first children’s piece in the KO! I featured artists,too, like my dear friend, artist and poet Nathan Smith.He did quite a few covers. I am still so proud of thatpaper. I sometimes think of starting it up again, but Iwould need help if I did.

Being a writer is mostly for people that enjoy a cer-tain amount of solitude—being with oneself andthinking. do you enjoy this part of the writer’sworld? In what place in this world do you find yourwriting to be the very best of all for you? Jana: Writing is a lonely business and not for the faintof heart. I have many sides of myself, and being a loneris certainly one of them. But I’m also a collaborator, ateacher, publisher, editor and speaker. So I do get out-side of myself, often. But when I am really into the writ-ing, I can appear very anti-social. And my alone-time isprecious to me. I must have time and space to daydreamand imagine. I think any artist needs that. But I’m nohermit. I love hanging out with my friends and family.

Jana, would you ever write a children’s book in Chi-nese, since you are fluent in that language? Was ithard to learn? Who taught you to speak this tongue?Jana: I have written in Chinese. In fact, my daughter’sfavorite story of mine is called The Legend Of Mei Hua,which I originally wrote in Chinese for a class at Mid-delbury. It’s about the first panda. Chinese hard? That’san understatement. At Middlebury, the Chinese lan-guage students were the only ones with private roomsbecause they needed to study ALL the time. If theycaught us speaking English ever, we would be expelled.Our dorm rooms had adjoining bathrooms and the stu-dents used to sneak into the bathrooms together andwhisper in English. I got my degree in Mandarin fromNYU and then I lived for a year in Taiwan, spent 9weeks at Middlebury’s summer intensive, then 4 yearsas a tour guide to mainland. For me, the speaking camevery easily, but the writing, wow! I had a box of flash-cards that weighed 20 pounds. There are 40,000 char-acters and no alphabet. It was because of my refugeework that I decided to study Chinese. My friends wereethnic Chinese/Vietnamese, and I found the Vietnameselanguage even more challenging, plus there were manymore Chinese programs at that time. I don’t use it muchanymore, but it’s fun to order in restaurants. Ever acrowd pleaser.

Jana, your first book, Weeping Under This SameMoon … what kind of frame of mind were you in towrite this book that was so well accepted and readworldwide? What a great first start, ya think? youwere meant to be a writer, no doubt. Might you goback into photography in some distant future?Jana: I had finished my first draft of The Twelfth Stoneand was thinking about what to write next. I had beenpondering and had often thought that I should chroniclethat time in my life. That experience changed my life somuch, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to reveal so much ofmyself. And then the phone rang, out of the blue. It wasfrom a number I didn’t recognize, from Florida. It wasmy Vietnamese “family,” the one from the book. Theywere having a family reunion and eating carrot cake.Whenever they ate carrot cake, they said, it remindedthem of me and our time together. (There’s an explana-tion of the carrot cake scene in the book.) I knew it wasa sign from the gods and I asked them if I could writeour story. They cheered a unanimous YES and thoughtwhen it was done we should all be on Oprah! I immedi-ately began writing, and I consulted one of them as myeditor. Writing that book was very cathartic for me. Itflowed out of me. There were times I became Mei. Writ-ing Hannah was much harder. I decided to fictionalizeit not only because writing my memoir seemed a strangething to do at the time, but also I wanted to protect the

tiMe StandS Still, HerMan Melville’S taBle andWritinG toolS in HiS HoMe,PittSField, Ma

PHoto By lee everett


anonymity of my Vietnamese family. Hannah lovedphotography and “she” still does. I am a decent photog-rapher.

Have we covered the scope of Jana? Can you de-scribe to me what makes life worthwhile for you?and is it possible to reach out and help others thathaven’t touched base with their core passions yet?How would you do this if you could do it in any wayin the world?Jana: The scope of Jana, wow. I think you got it! Butto answer your question, my children make my lifeworthwhile. Agreed, Jana!They are my most precious and important gifts. I lovewatching them grow into adults. I wonder what theirlives will be like. And they are my teachers too. I havelearned so much from being a parent. And I hope I haveimparted to them a love of life and art, and the idea thatdoing what you love is the only way to fly. As far asreaching out to others, I can only teach by my example.I do what I love and when I do, I’m happy. When Idon’t, I’m not so good. When I live the life I intended,I see the Universe support me. When I’m on the pathmiracles happen often. And when you can recognizethem, well, that’s the best!

Why are writers stereotyped as using old-fashionedtypewriters and burying themselves in cabins in thewoods, secluded and alone with just enough goodfood and coffee to get them through their stay?Something about our history of famous writers…they must all have something in common with each

other, like painters, actors and musicians do.Jana: I love coffee. It’s my only addiction. Wrappingmy hands around a hot cup and smelling that aroma be-fore I start writing is rather like heaven. I don’t have atypewriter. I love my computer. A cabin in the woodswith a view would be real nice, so if any kind reader hasone to lend, I’d be appreciative. I have applied for a fewwriting retreats; that I have done. Writing requires timeand focus, and when I can make sure the sink is emptyand the counter is clear, I can work from home. Other-wise, like Herman Melville, I might lock myself in thatoffice!

and here, another question: Why is reading the lan-guage so much different than speaking the lan-guage?Jana: Reading requires one to slow down, focus, payattention. That’s why I think writing is the most difficultart form to show. It requires a reader. Someone to actu-ally take the time to look at those words on the page.

Who are your favorite authors?Jana: I love Alexander McCall Smith, Charles De Lint,Charlotte Bronte, Herman Melville, Jane Austen, Eliz-abeth Berg, Katherine Stockett, Barbara Kingsolver,Harper Lee, so many.

Have you gone back to White Plains lately? Whatfeelings from your childhood does it bring up foryou?Jana: I go back quite often. My parents live there. Ineed to clean my room!

How do you piece together and summarize what dis-ciplines and codes you want to follow to live a happyand well-rounded life? any sayings in any languageyou might want to share as we close this interviewtime together?Jana: For me, I need to be myself in everything I do.It’s time to take care of myself, to nurture myself, evenindulge myself! I haven’t spent a lot of time doing that,and I’m learning. I think lots of mothers (fathers too)need to indulge in some serious self-care. When I followmy heart, I can do pretty much anything. Stop procras-tinating and get creative. And try lots of different foods,read lots of books, see lots movies and travel, every-where you can. Learn a new language and take up aninstrument when you’re over 40! Get a uke or learn thefiddle. Do something outside your comfort zone!Sayings: Here’s my favorite Scottish saying taught tome by my friend Nancy: “What’s for ye wi’ ne’er go byye.”Hafiz, my favorite poet said, “The place you are right

now, God circled on a map for you.” I believe that.

Thank you, Jana!!!

H

“WHO’S GLASSES DO THESE BELONG TO???” PHotoGraPH By lee everett, HerMan Melville HoMe

Jana, he was very good looking, don’t you think, this Mister Melville?... PHotoGraPH By lee everett

Don’t be shy! Advertise your talent!

[email protected]

Great first timer rates!

BerKShire feSTiVAL Of WOMen WriTerSneW leaderSHiP ProGraM

For teen GirlSthe Berkshire Festival of Women Writers invites teen

girls ages 13 – 18 to join director Jennifer Browdy andspoken word poet Grace rossman in an exciting new pro-gram, the Butterfly leadership Circles, aimed at develop-ing young women’s potential as writers, public speakersand creative leaders.

the writing-intensive program will meet monthly fromJanuary through May, 2016, with three-hour sessions tak-ing place from 2 – 5 p.m. on a series of Sunday afternoonsat the unitarian universalist Church in Pittsfield and theSouth Berkshire Friends Meeting House in Great Barring-ton, with the final session at the Mount on May 15.

“Participants will learn to use writing as a means ofself-discovery and self-expression, and also work on build-ing confidence in speaking publicly about issues they careabout. through the monthly sessions, we’ll create a col-laborative learning community in which we teach andmodel ways of thoughtfully, respectfully discussing issuesof importance to today’s young women,” says dr. Browdy,a longtime educator.

Sessions will take place January 10 in Pittsfield, Feb-ruary 7 in Great Barrington, March 6 in Pittsfield, april10 in Great Barrington, and May 15 in lenox. each ses-sion will focus on a different topic, including qualities ofwomen’s leadership, healthy relationships with self andothers, dealing with distraction and stress, taking action onsocial issues, and more. details can been found at Butter-flyleadership.org.

Girls can sign up to attend just one Circle meeting, ormore; participants who attend and participate productively

in at least four out of the fivesessions will be awarded a Cer-tificate of Completion. eachmeeting is limited to a maxi-mum of 20 participants.

the cost of each three-hoursession is $60, or sign up for allfive at the discounted rate of$250. Some partial scholarshipsare available.

Berkshire Festival of WomenWriters - Applications and fullinformation available at Butterflyleadership.org

JOhn LiPKOWiTzSPrinGtiMe in JaPan

John lipkowitz, a photographer now retired to GreatBarrington, lives to shoot, or, perhaps, he shoots to live.His answer to the question of which, parallels the answerto a chicken or egg question and depends upon no dis-cernible criteria. Fortunately for him and hopefully for usas well, John finds his answers and his inspiration in travel,often to exotic places far from the Berkshires. this time hetravelled nearly half way around the world to Honshu, theprincipal island of Japan.

John’s wife nina organized the group of individualswith whom they went on an overseas adventure travelitinerary specifically to be in Japan as the cherry blossomsopened, and they landed in tokyo three days after the firstofficial bloom was recorded. visiting several cities and anumber of rural areas over three weeks allowed a broadspectrum of Japanese cultural and religious experiences ina country where much of the population practices bothBuddhism and Shintoism. these deeply spiritual practicespermeate large portions of this culture, much of which Johnhas sought to capture in this exhibit.

travel photography is a genre in which many of us en-gage and the ability to create a collection of images whichapproach the sublime rather than descending to the mun-dane is no easy task. in this selection, John gives us a broadrange, from an ecstatic wonderment at the reappearance ofSakura or cherry blossoms, to the beauty of Japanese gar-dens, shrines and temples, always with the impact of thou-sand year old traditions. While the camera and selfie maybe of recent vintage, the blessings of new blooms heraldingspring are nearly timeless.

in realizing the images included in his Japan collectionJohn has utilized not only traditional Western fine artcoated photographic papers, but has experimented with anuncoated Japanese hand made paper and a coated paper in-corporating visible fibers in the hope that these evince anenhanced Japanese aesthetic.

“Springtime In Japan” will be exhibited December 4 -27, with a reception December 5, 12-4pm at the 510 War-ren Gallery, 510 Warren St., Hudson, NY, 518-822-0510.Hours are Friday & Saturday, 12-6 and Sunday 12-5.

Stay for Hudson’s Annual Winter Walk, 5 - 8pm December 5th!

JoHn liPkoWitZ, noodle SHoP, PHotoGraPH, JaPan

GeOffrey MOSSPaintinG tHe Barn

over and overWhenever Geoffrey Moss assumes the roll of art in-

structor, he first cautions that his students “… keep theireyes not on what’s before them in the flesh, but what is intheir memory about that flesh…”

now, continuing to show his iconic Barns at the laurenClark Gallery, the painter aware of his own advise, takesselective liberty to remember that negative spaces canoffer the viewer, as well as artist, opportunity to personallyimagine what has occurred in shadows and sudden con-trasts of light in architecture using not one traditional lightsource, but several; that is, rearranging spaces, buildingwalls, openings, happily abstracting memory. in this pres-ent, more representational Gallery offering, unlike his lessrepresentational work, forms replace interaction of colors.in these canvases and works on paper, like his totally ab-stract works, it seems the artist ignores his past use of pri-mary colors of barns in order to document, to enforceviews of massive structure, coming closer to a marriagewith his familiar Black drawing Series begun as an artstudent at yale.

Quoting a favorite author, William Faulkner, Moss re-iterates, “knowing remembers….” Choosing to be the“accidental architect,” the artist obsessively paints, paints,paints barns, rearranging and moving walls of shadows,making full use of his prerogative to own and reinvent.

Lauren Clark Fine Art - 25 Railroad Street, GreatBarrington, 413-528-0432; [email protected] / www.laurenClarkFineart.com

GeoFFrey MoSS, BerkSHire MorninG

Samantha Candeeis now accepting appointmentsGive our new talented stylist the boost of confidence she deserves. It gives her the experienceshe needs to succeed and provide a great discount rate for the community. To receive 15% off of yourservice by showing this ad.

413. 528. 9999 Great Barrington, MA

Have a great hair day!


“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

-- Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

Writer PHoto: lynnette naJiMy


JeNNiFer pazieNza

JeNNiFer pazieNza, WINTER’S END, 27 x 84 in, oiL oN CaNvaS

Saint Francis Gallery1370 PleaSant Street, rte. 102, SoutH lee (just 2 miles east from the Red Lion Inn)

413.717.5199 Friday thru Monday 10-5pm www.saintfrancisgallery.com

[email protected] http://jenniferpazienza.com/

Denise B ChandlerFine Art Photography

exhiBitiNG and repreSeNted by:• Sohn Fine art Gallery 69 Church St., Lenox, Ma

• 510 warren Street Gallery 510 warren St., hudson, Ny

www.denisebchandler.com [email protected]

purple dahlia © denise B Chandler 2015

Mary Carol Rudin

The MAGiC Of LiGhT AnD SMALL MirACLeS

October 31 - December 22, 2015Reception: Saturday, November 14, 2015

"Moon and Clouds", 12 x 24 oil on canvas

Saint Francis Gallery1370 Pleasant street. route 102 lee. Ma (next to fire dept.)

413.717. 5199 open Fri, Sat., Sun., & Mon. 10-5 pmwww.saintfrancisgallery.com


artiSt eLeAnOr LOrD

510 Warren Street, HudSon, ny WWW.510WArrenSTreeTGALLery.COM

518-822-0510

Kris Galli

Represented byLauren Clark Fine Art

25 Railroad St., Great Barrington

krisgallifineart.com

The Abstractionist Oil on canvas, 36 x 36

FroNt St. GaLLery

Painting classes on Monday and Wednesday mornings 10 - 1pm at the studio in Housatonic and

Thursday mornings 10am - 1pm out in the field. Open to all. Please come paint with us!gallery hours: open by chance or by appointment

413-274-6607 (gallery) 413-429-7141 (cel) 413-528-9546 (home)Front Street, housatonic, Ma

Bird Feed deep winter, 24 x 24” , kate knapp

otis the PlaywrightPart iii

tHe SMallPox SkitriCHard Britell

the rooster was very sensitive to the fact that he wasconsidered an ill omen. this is what he said to otis aboutit: “if any bird or any animal should be awarded the prizeof being a good omen, of being a harbinger of joy andgood tidings, it is the rooster, or cock, if you prefer.

"We have the honor of greeting and announcing thenew day. the idea of the new dawn is traditionally seenas an optimistic omen. nevertheless, the fact is, we areconsidered a bird of ill omen, and in history we oftenenter the stage at a time of tragedy. i fear this had its be-ginning with the death of Socrates, whose last wordswere, ‘Crito, we owe a cock to asclepius.’

"then about four hundred years later we roosters aredragged into a tragedy again, when Christ is about to becrucified and he says to Peter, ‘truly, i tell you, this verynight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me threetimes.’ Why is it, i ask you otis, that we roosters areabused as a symbol in history in this way; why not utilizea crow, or a goat or pig? the crows at least are knownfor crowing out their dismal warnings."

“i think,” said otis, “that the use of you roosters as asymbol of death has a very obvious unconscious expla-nation. Please forgive me for saying this, but i believe itstems from the unfortunate habit you roosters have ofrunning all over the place for a short time after yourheads are cut off.

"even though a pious individual may have a deep faithin the hereafter, when death approaches they are filledwith fears and doubts. they exert all of their efforts toform a positive image of life in the great beyond, but theyfail to form any meaningful image. the fact remains, theonly image of life after death they know about is pro-vided by you roosters in a most graphic and disturbingway, and it pops into their minds as if to mock them."

“Be that as it may,” said the rooster, “what i want tocreate is a work that will redeem the rooster’s image inart, and present him in the light appropriate to his mostimportant function, that being the herald of the dawn. toaccomplish this, i want you to consider the thing ourspectators fear the most, and transform it into comedy.”

“What,” otis asked, “do you consider the thing ourspectators fear most?”

“death,” said the rooster. “But not just any death—the kind of death provided by the unexpected and unseensudden diseases that fasten themselves on the unsuspect-ing. and i am not talking about plague, which announcesitself a long way off by attacking distant communities.no, i am thinking of smallpox,” said the rooster, “be-cause it is always around the corner and never really goesaway for long. even more than pestilence, it is no re-specter of wealth or royalty, and is just as happy to carryoff a newborn as the elderly.”

“So,” said otis, “you want me to compose a skit inwhich the fear of smallpox is the subject, and it must bea comedy, and you, as a rooster, must play a prominent

role and be seen in a positive light. is that correct?”“yes, exactly,” said the rooster. it took otis three days to formulate the skit, and late

at night when the three comedians were asleep, he pre-sented it to the rooster in outline form. over the years,the smallpox skit has undergone many alterations. everygeneration of wandering performers, dogs and roostershas their version of the skit. there are performances thatuse fewer characters, but a dog and a rooster are indis-pensable.

the skit begins with the eldest of the comedians, in-variably known as the General, entering the kitchen andtelling his wife that he intends to make grape jelly withthe wild grapes he has just picked that morning. She isengrossed in knitting something and pays no attention tohim.

the General takes a huge pot and proceeds to fill it upfrom his bushel of grapes. He puts it on the stove and be-gins to boil it, stirring it off and on with what looks likea canoe paddle. the grapes begin to boil as he stirs furi-ously at the pot. the harder it boils the harder he plieshis oar, but the entire time his wife never looks up fromher work.

the General becomes covered with sweat, and stripsdown to his underpants. in the skit, it is very importantthat his formerly white underpants are ancient and are anuneven dark gray color and covered with stains andblotches. the wife is in the foreground with her back tothe spectators, and the General is at the back of the stagewith his back to his wife and the audience.

one can picture his ungainly, nearly naked form. thewife looks up for a moment and, seeing her husband’sfrantic gyrations with the grape pot, shakes her head indisgust and returns to her knitting. Finally, the Generalis satisfied with his pot of boiled grapes. He sets the potaside and lies down to take a nap while the grapes cool.He is on his back and we can see how huge his stomachis. He begins to snore.

the wife approaches him. We still can see only herback, but from her reactions we see that something is ter-rifying her as she steps back from her husband's bodyholding her hands to her mouth. the General rolls overin his sleep exposing his corpulent body to the spectators:his face and his entire body is covered with little flecksof dried grape. the General has grapepox.

the wife, thinking her husband has smallpox, backsaway from him in terror to the far side of the room, untilshe is backed into a corner. From there she pleads withhim to remain in bed. When he tries for a moment to getup, she falls upon her knees and pleads with him to staywhere he is and not move. later she attempts unsuccess-fully to feed him from a tray that has been tied to a longpole.

the wife offers to go and find a doctor, if there is evenone who will be willing to examine him. the wife leaves

the room, and the audience notices that the hands of aclock over the fireplace begin to rotate rapidly: two hoursgo by. She returns with the rooster.

the rooster is elaborately dressed as a doctor, but hasthe bird beak so often associated with plague doctors tiedto the front of his face. When he sees the General on thebed covered with purple spots, he too will not go nearhim, but only observes him from a distance, jumping upon the table and strutting back and forth in order to get abetter view.

the rooster can offer no help, but he volunteers to goand get a famous doctor from the town. the roosterleaves and the wife begins to tidy up the house, but allthe time staying as far as possible from her sick husband.She moves the bucket of boiled grapes and in the processshe is also splattered with flecks of grape jelly.

now the son enters and discovers both his mother andfather covered with the dreaded purple spots. He forceshis mother to lie down next to his father and, just like therooster, tries to stay as far from them as possible. thehands of the clock spin around; twelve hours pass.

in the early morning the rooster arrives, announcinghis return with his classical greeting. in walks the great,famous doctor, who is none other than otis. otis isdressed in formal attire. He is walking on his hind legsand carries a medicine bag in his right paw; around hisneck hangs a stethoscope. He has no fear of the pox.

He examines the General first, and then the wife. Hethinks for a long time, rubbing his ear with his paw in apensive way. Finally he begins to lick the General’s facein a typically dog-like way. He licks all of the spots fromthe sick man's face and chest, and then proceeds to curethe wife.

thus ends the Smallpox Skit. it is true that the skitceased to have much of an effect on audiences after theinvention of the smallpox vaccine. once the terror of thedisease was gone, the effect of the skit lost it power toentertain. By the early years of the 19th century, the skithad almost disappeared from the repertory of wanderingtheatre troupes.

However, i do wish you could have seen the audi-ence’s reaction to the end of the skit, at the moment whenotis begins to lick the General’s face. no one was in-clined to laugh; on the contrary they looked on awestruckand open-mouthed. it may have been simply flecks ofgrape skin otis was licking, but there was not a personin the audience who was not inwardly asking themselvesthe question, “Would i lick the face of a person withsmallpox?” and then came that question’s immediatecorollary, “a dog’s affection is of a different order thanhuman affection.”

-riCHard Britell



Lynne, your calendars are how old, now? Lynne M. Anstett: Just in their infancy, relativelyspeaking. My journey started in 2013 with a traditionalArt Photography Calendar. the beginning of the ArtPhotography Poster Calendar launched in 2014, fea-turing my travels through new england & Canada.the early art photography posters were test marketedon a small scale to explore interest—to see if theywould stick on the wall (pun intended). the posterswere well received, so i’ve kept going…. 2015 nar-rowed the focus from new england to Connecticut,with themes featuring outdoor recreation, farms, farm-to-table, history and more. in 2016, i continued withConnecticut but branched into neighboring Massachu-setts, particularly the Berkshires. the Massachusettscalendars are available now in stores throughout Berk-shire County. i’ve already begun working on a 2017calendar.

So, you have a wall style, and also a desk style cal-endar? Lynne: yes, two wall styles: one being the more tradi-tional, functional style you can write on, and the secondbeing the art Poster, which is “art first,” then func-tional, for visual reference. the desk style follows thesame concept as the art Poster for the wall. i have alltwelve months hanging in my kitchen on two walls, andquite often they lend themselves well to conversationsabout time and place. the art Posters can be enjoyedone month at a time, as all twelve or any number in-be-tween, depending on space.

What inspired you to start doing this? Any interest-ing stories lie behind your earlier pioneer days? itall seems very interesting! Lynne: i started taking photography seriously around

2007. although i had a camera in my hands at an earlyage and was always interested in taking pictures, theinspiration to start this particular aspect of photographycame from my strong desire to share what i sawthrough the lens. i wanted to figure out how to conveythat artistic interest with others on a wide scale. ithought there was so much beauty—especially out-doors—and that folks in this hurried world we live inmight be missing it. one story comes to mind about atime prior to calendar ventures. While on one of mytrips to Prince edward island Canada, my good friendelaine came up with an idea to make Pei dirt shirts.the island is known for the deep red soil (if you wearwhite socks they won’t come home the same color).all the children on the trip and their cousins that livedon the island were given a white tee shirt. they all hadtheir hand in the design, some with a tie-dyed effect.all the tee shirts were thrown into puddles of the darkreddish soil. once completely soaked, they were hungon the line to dry at the house we were staying at. therewas something that struck me about the activity—fam-ily, friends and the tee shirts flapping in the ocean wind.of course i took the photo. later i reflected on it, andused this photo to accompany a poem i wrote titledFriends. the poem reflects friendships, which arebound together by layers of threads. those that surviveare the threads that stay firmly intact, and those that fallare the threads broken and never repaired. My art proj-ects run in parallel. one was the publication of a bookof original poetry and photography titled Love Bound,The Journey; they are all interconnected in some way.

it looks awfully fun and time consuming. is it an all-encompassing career for you? Lynne: it is time consuming but also very rewarding,which i will elaborate on later. if you asked my close

friends and family, they would say this is an all-encom-passing career for me, given the time i spend on it out-side of my regular career. So my nights and weekendsare spent with this endeavor, and the other time is spentin the business world as a relationship manager. i hopeto someday move away from the “day job” duties andtransition to spend more time in this second, chosen ca-reer.

Another woman entrepreneur! yay! Tell me, haveyou caught much flak while getting this idea of cal-endars up and running? i mean to say, has anyonetried to rain on your parade because you are a fe-male? Or was there a competitive thing that madeyou think twice before doing this at any point? ienjoy the struggle aspect of start-up time, when cre-ating a business that has originated from a form ofart—in this case, photography. Lynne: Well, i’ve had to learn the ropes, particularlyabout the business end of the work. you can createmany beautiful and functional art items, but will theysell? Who would sell them for me, what types of storesor galleries would take a risk to introduce a new artproduct and a new artist? Where could i get printingdone to meet my expectations regarding timing andcompetitive pricing? What is the life cycle of calen-dars, from creating to marketing to production to sales,etc.?

no one ever tried to rain on my parade. My familyhas been very supportive and i have a lot of friends whoare thrilled about the path i am pursuing. Many storeshave taken a leap of faith with my products and me andi send out a BiG tHankS to them. Sure, there arechallenges: production schedules, layout obstacles,photos that don’t quite work and need to be returned tothe “photography board,” printing delays, miscommu-

LyNNe M. aNStettPHOTOGRAPHING OUR NEIGHBORHOODS

365 DAYS OF THE YEARinterview by Harryet Candee

lynne M. anStett, eMBraCe – it Can HaPPen anyWHere, Cloud Mirror


nications about the end goal. i think that is common toall things. i’ve thought about the competitive thing—art posters in the form of a calendar are not a new con-cept and many people have their favorite style. i lookfor mine to be unique, with my style, and i hope to starttraditions where folks will find that my art Poster Cal-endars are something they look forward to year afteryear.

Tell me about your passion for photography. Was itpassed down from a family member? Or did itstrike your fancy when you found you can capturean image forever? Lynne: My father was a photography lover. there wasalways a camera in the house, and in the early 1970’she got one of those Polaroid instamatic cameras for mymother. She became a master handler—she developedan expertise for waiting the exact time needed beforepeeling away the protective paper to reveal the picture(well, it took a couple of film cartridges to get it right).She had that camera for years. When i visit my dadnow, he invariably pulls out stacks of pictures from hisarchives—about 80 years worth. these include fadedPolaroids, but some are black and white photos of hisfamily, and from when he was a young lad of about 3living in Hartland, Ct. He lived on a farm in a formerinn along a dirt road. He even has some pictures thatwere taken by life Magazine in the 1940’s, which de-pict him, his siblings, his cousins, an author and a fa-mous literary agent at the Stone House in Hartland. Somaybe indirectly my father’s love of photography in itsbasic form influenced me to have a camera handy at alltimes, so as to not miss “precious moments.” Somethings are preserved only through a photograph, andthey become those generational things that get handeddown. Without them we would never know what thatold inn looked like (it’s gone now) or what relativeswho we never met looked like because they passed onbefore we arrived here on this earth. My fancy for pho-tography was struck at a new level, and it stuck when ivisited Prince edward island Canada. the island has somuch natural beauty… i believe that contributed to myvision: to capture all that is beautiful to me and to shareit with others.

When we met, you told me a little about your back-ground. i found it to be a wonderful image—of yourexperience with your grandmothers, the potatofields, and the simple lifestyle. Can you elaborate?Lynne: i had wonderful experiences with both mygrandmothers growing up. My mother’s mom impartedto me many of her loves: reading, cooking, antiques (athree story barn filled to the brim that i would exploreoften), travel, foraging for fiddleheads, sea-shelling onSanibel and Captiva islands, cultivating violets androses, picking wild blueberries earlyon many summer mornings and thenmaking jams and jellies. often in thesummer she would prepare a picnicfeast for the family at a local recre-ation area. after work my grandfa-ther would come to enjoy, and mysiblings and i would come afterchores and swim until almost dark,then eat. She had that get-up-and-goattitude, and was motivated to trymany things. this was a busy butsimple life—less fast-paced thantoday. this still exists today forsome, but i think many have neverhad this type of experience directly.you have to seek it out. My father’smother shared her life growing up onlong island and then moving to thefarm in Hartland to raise a family.She had a great sense of adventureand traveled to many cities aroundthe uS by plane, bus or car in the1950’s and 1960’s. We always got apostcard. She lived with her daugh-ter; during the week they lived inHartford, and on weekends theylived in her homestead in Hartland.We visited her often in both places,and we had the beauty of experienc-ing the city and country life. She wasa nurse and a great cook, and we al-ways talked about the importance ofgood food and nutrition. Simply

wonderful! the potato fields were part of a big gardenwe always had growing up. My father had a greenthumb, and with the help of his children the garden pro-vided an abundance of food. nothing went to waste;much of it was canned by my mother and grandmother,or kept in a root cellar for consumption in the winter.More about the potato fields to come….

Continued....

lynne M. anStett,HayStaCkS alonG tHe

le Petit traindunord-Mont treMBlant,

Canada

lynne M. anStett, FarM-to-taBle – PleaSant & Main CaFé - HouSatoniC, Ma


i’d also love for you to talk about your experienceon Prince edward island, and the meaning it hasfor you. you have returned to it many times… howdoes it affect you and how does it fit into your artis-tic life?Lynne: yes, i’ve been to the island for three visits withmy friends Bob and elaine. they travel there almostevery year to visit Bob’s family, who have lived on theisland for many, many generations. it feels like thekind of place that is similar to the way my parents andgrandparents grew up, living a simple but relaxing andslower-paced life. When we cross the Canadian border,we turn off the cell service so we can sink into that re-laxation. our children found other things to do than justbe glued to the media devices. activities included hav-ing a campfire at the beach and toasting marshmallowsfor some of those “chocolatey graham cracker treats,”

riding bicycles, taking a walk or just hanging out play-ing board games and reading books. it was a bit of ashock for them at first, but it didn’t take long to adjust.We’d go to victoria-by-the-Sea for chocolate confec-tions or a hot chocolate beverage, and visit the shopsfeaturing hand-carved candles and jewelry. We’d visita barn stuffed with antiques and collectibles with a sea-village or island feel. Here you can walk through thehistoric seacoast village and see the remnants of a once-important trade stop. one year, i bicycled on the islandwith my fiancé; it was a nice way to see the island—allthose rolling hills that just kept rolling. one of the mainindustries on the island is potato farming. the potatofields go on and on and it seems like every corner youcome to there are more potato fields. Many of the coun-try roads are dirt—it feels like you stepped back intime, in a nice way. While on Pei, i would accompany

elaine and Bob to many of their family members’houses. We always went to aunt Barb’s, where we sataround the kitchen, had tea and scones, listened to thefiddle or guitar and just relaxed and told stories. eachyear we took a boat trip around the northern part of theisland, courtesy of one of the relatives, and the viewwas like no other. one time we were all invited to awedding, to the music part after the ceremony and din-ner. it was customary to invite everyone (related or not)to that part of the celebration. the wedding was set ona cliff overlooking the ocean near the highest point ofthe island. it felt very romantic, and the view lookingout was the opposite from what i saw from the boattrip—a pretty spectacular experience. i later wrote apoem titled, To The Highest Point. Music and dancefilled the rooms at many of the homes we visited; themusic was just as central as the people themselves.everything i’ve experienced on Pei is easily woveninto my artistic life; it’s the kind of place i’d like to visitagain. i loved every minute of it.

So, now you have a sellable product! Congrats!Please explain the meshing between photographyand wanting people to have a functional piece ofart? Lynne: thank you, yes, it’s selling. i do want to have abalance of “art” and “function” for this product. Myhope is that the art part makes its way to the eye first,so there is some inquisitiveness about it and why wasit selected. i’m always eager to share the story behindthe photo.

how does it work? When do you shoot? how do youselect? how do you print? Details! Lynne: i shoot all the time, as i like to have many op-tions to choose from. Much of the picture-taking has totake place well in advance of the production aspect. thefrequency and volume of pictures can grow quickly. ofcourse i take lots of pictures of things that are not formy business, so essentially there is a camera in actiona lot of the time, and i know sometimes it drives peoplenuts. Selection and laying out the themes comes instages. i want to be sure the individual photo can standon its own, and when added to a set of 12 monthlyposters, i want to be sure there is a collective flow.Sometimes selection changes happen at the last mo-ment. this has to be managed, as i need to keep theproject and production schedule on track. i use localprinting companies, leaving the printing to the experts.

how do you see this business of art and functionalitydeveloping and changing in, say, two years fromnow? Lynne: My goal is to only build and add momentumfrom here on. But i do have to consider the distance icover, and factor in a reasonable scope. i hope therewill be sufficient public interest to continue this typeof art poster calendar. Some efforts lead to other efforts,so it can be hard to predict where a project will takeyou. i am optimistic that the art and functionality willcontinue to be appealing in this form.

is it hard work? how do you divide your time? iknow you have kids, too! Working is a great thing,but do you ever find it has gotten out of control,managing so much? Lynne: i don’t consider the work hard, but rather chal-lenging, in a positive way. dividing my time sometimesneeds to be better managed. the kids are grown, butthat doesn’t mean they don’t look for interaction andgetting together. yes, the cycle of calendar creation andproduction, running two years in parallel, heightens theactivity and can draw me away from other things. i’mstriving to create a balance.

LyNNE M. ANSTETT

lynne M. anStett, “WalkinG doWn tHe road – our Four-leGGed Friend leadinG tHe Way” – PrinCe edWard iSland - Canada


the cupcake calendar!! i adore the cupcakes!! youhave a very good eye for design. Have you thought ofbranching out more into other areas of photography foryour calendars? are they just on a commission basisfor now? yes, the cupcake calendar has created an av-enue for other commissioned work. this subject con-tent has sparked other ideas for photography projects.it was an interesting subject matter to photograph.often at night i would work on the calendar preparationand the concentrated effort resulted in the desire towant a cupcake! But there was none to have, and it be-came a bit of a struggle to continue the work while thebrain said i needed a cupcake. i had to work a betterstrategy to get the project done without a cupcake sup-ply on hand. it’s not to say that i went without… whocould resist…

Lynne, are you good at the business end of all thiswork for the photo calendars? Where did you getyour business experience? Lynne: i can tell you, many artists, photographers, ac-tors, painters, etc., are great at making art, but are ter-rible dealing with the other side of the table. and thatincludes marketing oneself! My formal education isbusiness administration and management. i do havesome business experience, and i did have a couple ofsmall ventures on my own, which contributed to myexperience on a small scale. i do try to think throughthe end-to-end business process; i network, research,and perform analysis. With that said, i would say thati’m okay with the business end but could always learnmore. the marketing aspect comes with time—buildingthe portfolio, networking, making appearances withproducts in stores that are featuring them, advertising,creating shows, hiring a professional… so much to tap,and with that the need to balance the cost to justify the

potential outcome. the business and marketing com-ponents are definitely a challenge. these are opportu-nities for me to figure out how to be successful.

Would you ever consider formal classical photogra-phy training, do portraits, still life… or Lynne,would you ever consider changing the medium fromphotography to oil or pastel? Do you have a talentfor other art mediums? Lynne: i am a firm believer in continuing education anddo need to spend more time with training. i’m open toother areas of photography. Many of my friends paint,and i have a great appreciation of their talents. For nowi’ll continue my focus on photography, but i am opento change. if circumstances present themselves, i couldgo down another art path. i do enjoy writing poetry, butit has been dormant for a few years since publishingmy book. i enjoy reading from it at poetry events andwould like to offer some new ones. i need to dust offsome unfinished work.

Speaking of talents… are you by chance musicallyinclined? Lynne: as a child i sang in the church choir every Sun-day. i took piano lessons for a few years; my pianoteacher was 90 years old. i wish i had kept it up. as anadult, for more than 10 years i participated in Commu-nity theater in riverton, Ct, performing in their pro-duction of A Christmas Carol. i mainly sang in thechorus, but also danced in the Fezziwig party and hada few small acting parts; my favorite was being a partyguest at nephew Fred’s house. the group’s mission isto provide joy during the holiday season and raisemoney for the tiny tim Fund, which helps childrenand families.

you travel up to Dalton where your fiancé lives, andyou are well acquainted with the Berkshires. Driv-ing is a big part of what you do to make the calendarbusiness work. you must see some amazing thingson your travels, yes? Do you stop every ten minutesto take a shot if you have to? Capture that momentwhen possible? Lynne: i do stop a lot—some of it is planned and otherstops are not. i can get easily diverted if somethingcomes into my line of sight that seems interesting.Many of my stops involve talking to people about whatthey are doing… i visit farmers’ markets, wineries, bak-eries, farms and more. Many times there will be a fol-low-up visit to capture another aspect, such as aseasonal activity. it’s like being on lots of mini vaca-tions. i really enjoy the interaction with people and get-ting to know what they do.

Does it matter what camera you use for your desiredoutcome for landscapes? Close ups? Animals? Peo-ple? Lynne: i’ve had a number of cameras along the way,but for now my main camera serves most situations,using various lenses. Particular subjects i photographin their settings, and they have to be worked out. thereare many ways to achieve this and i continue to learn.i like to use as much natural light as possible.

What to you is very important to achieve with yourart? Separate from your calendars, what technicalthings might your eye and experience want to al-ways find and shoot for? Might there always be achallenge you face with photography? Continued...

lynne M. anStett, FriendS – PrinCe edWard iSland – Canada, tee SHirtS on tHe ClotHeS line


My eye is always on the horizon and my curiosityof what is “in view” is more than what lies ahead orbehind, often it is looking up. “the sky is painteddifferent every day” (from my poem titled thedawn of day) and i like to snap those views as oftenas possible. i like to pay very close attention to myvisual surroundings. My recent show titled lookingup captured some technical aspects i am workingon. My challenge is that i’ll get an idea, usuallycomplex, but do not always achieve the intendedoutcome. i look at the challenges as stretch goalsand work to achieve them. Most times it takes manytries and sometimes i just can’t get it. i think a men-tor would be helpful, and more training.

how did you gain so much confidence to get outthere and become your own boss? What experi-ence might have given you this wonderful boostof energy? Lynne: My confidence has built up over timethrough failures and successes; it shakes out to be-lieving in oneself. i believe in myself, and i’m notafraid to try things. not all things work the way youwant them to right out of the gate. But being re-silient and believing in oneself is key. My energycomes from the excitement of what i am doing, andhoping others will like it too. looking at my grand-mothers and what they did is an inspiration for me.

Whatever your next steps will be, have you foundthat there is a higher spirit that has guided youalong this artistic path and will continue to speakto you during your future explorations and dis-coveries? What do you believe? Lynne: My higher spirit is my mother’s dream thather six children would follow their passions. i thinkof her often and know that my fulfillment is part ofhers.

in our world today, would you ever consider be-coming a photojournalist in a war-torn area? ifyou were needed, would you be brave and gooff? Lynne: i would consider being a photojournalist butnot in the place you describe. i admire photojour-nalists though, who risk their lives to tell and pho-tograph important stories. i consider myself braveand i believe that it is a valuable trait one needs tohave to be able to get through life, in our worldtoday.

What do you think is especially important to pre-serve through photography? What is it you feelneeds to be saved from disappearing?Lynne: Photography, to me, is a way of paying vi-sual attention and tribute to what is otherwise oftenmissed or taken for granted—the quiet dignity ofbuildings, the magnificence of sky, water and land,the mystery of old things, and the countless dailyproofs in nature that the world is made for our eyes.

how do you imagine that life as an artist—andfemale, mind you—differs from the lives of thewomen of the early days, when the land was freeand rich and clean, life was simpler, but not nec-essarily easier? for writers, back in the old days,i cannot even imagine the world they saw, andhow they wanted to translate it to the world andits future. Any thoughts? Lynne: i try to imagine the world that writers andartists saw long ago. i only have images and booksto go by. For women, i think there was limited op-portunity and acceptance for them to be openly ex-pressive; their artists’ abilities were possiblytranslated into other forms, more subtle but still im-portant art forms.

I aim to share what I see by chance or by design,that is beautiful to me. The camera allows me to do that.

-Lynne M. Anstett

lynne M. anStett, tHe vieW – lookinG nortHWeSt – PrinCe edWard iSland - Canada

lynne HoldinG CuPCake tray, WelCoMe to tHe SWeet liFe – Cake GyPSy


What do you consider to be a rewardingexperience?Lynne: it is about personal interaction—get-ting to know what lies behind the photo sub-jects—and it most always is about people.While aiming to share what is beautiful tome, my projects have acquainted me withpeople from all walks of life, who are build-ing small businesses, growing food, andworking to preserve the region’s natural andhistorical legacy. this has created joy forfolks when what they have created or sup-ported is featured on a calendar. their joy ismy reward.

Just to get a closer idea of who you are asan artist, i was wondering if you can tellme, what kind of art speaks to you? Do yougo to museums? The theatre? Where doyou get inspiration and knowledge? Lynne: I’ve always adored the impressionistpainters, especially Monet, renoir anddegas. i am also drawn to and captivated bythe work of Maxfield Parrish. Wallace nut-ting’s photographs of landscapes hit home forme. it’s been written that he rode his bicyclethrough the countryside taking pictures. i’vebeen known to pack a camera while riding abike. one of my favorite bike rides is theHarlem valley rail trail between Millertonand Wassaic, ny. i think the landscape thatfolks traveling on the train many years agosaw, is very close to what you can see on thebike ride today. While i peddle down the 11-

mile stretch and back, i often try to imagine iam on that train, and try to visualize myselfin another time. yes, museums and theatre aresome of my favorite experiences, and i enjoythem both locally and internationally. lastyear i visited london and Paris with my twosisters and uncle, and we packed in as manymuseums as possible. My fiancé’s daughterand her husband are actors. over the past sev-eral years, we have been fortunate to attendmany of their theater performances. it’s atreat i always look forward to. it is wonderfulthat we have so many rich cultural offeringsin this region.

And how do we leave all this…. What doyou want to leave behind and be remem-bered for? if not your photographs, thenwhat? Are there words you would like toshare on this? lynne: i would hope to be remembered formany things. My perseverance and resiliency,and the fact that i’m always willing to take arisk knowing the potential for not always end-ing with complete success. Bringing joy toothers through my photography is importantto me. i’d like to be remembered for givingback to the community, having a zest for life,and the desire to live life to the fullest.

Thank you, Lynne!H

lynne M. anStett, leFt aSHore – CaPe Cod, Ma

lynne M. anStett, notCHvieW – ProPerty oF tHe truSteeS – WindSor, Ma

ChriSTMAS eVeby Frank Gioia

the big, black Buick, as if driving itself, floated overthe trolley tracks on Wilson ave. Fat, fluffy snowflakesfell silently as the bells from St. theresa’s tolled in thebackground. in the rear, my brother Joe and i sank intothe cushy mohair seats. in the front, my mother’s pleadingbroke the silence. Why, Jerry why? Why do you have towork on Christmas eve? nobody works on Christmas. Myfather in his calm, controlling voice said he had to. He hada trunkful of suits and dresses, the latest in women’s fash-ion, if he sold a few things to my aunt Betty and her sister,he could make as much as $50. Besides, the money wouldcome in handy, it being a holiday and all. We would havedinner at aunt Marian’s. then, he would go to uncle tonyand aunt Betty’s in Hempstead. He’d be back by mid-night. C’mon, doll he crooned, let’s not get in a fight. it’sChristmas, and you’ll scare the kids.

While my father parked the Buick on Putnam avenue,i considered the suits. although he drove a truck for a liv-ing, i had recently become aware that my father was athief. not a real crook like in the daily news. it was justsomething he did to earn extra money. He would steal asuit or dress while making a delivery to a garment factoryand after work he would sell them to friends or relativesfor their wives or girlfriends or both.

aunt Marion’s three story frame house sparkled for theholidays. outside, the windows and the iron railing to the

second floor were wrapped in flashing colored lights. in-side, the blue lights on the Christmas tree shone throughthe first floor windows to the street. as we entered thehouse my uncle yelled, Frankie, come and sit next to youruncle Jimmy. let’s have a cherry. the cherries sat drown-ing in whiskey in a magnum sized bottle on the kitchentable. Chivas regal for the holidays. My aunt Mariankissed me as i passed her, wooden spoon in hand, stirringa large pot of fava beans. i hugged my aunt rosie as sheexpertly shaped and filled the cassata with pastry cream,her huge breasts splayed across the kitchen table. not fornothing was she known as titty rosie. My father had twosisters and a brother, my uncle tony. What’s the mattermy aunt asked? My mother’s disappointment showingthrough her make-up. Jerry, he’s going to Hempstead later.Says he has to work. really, you didn’t hear? tony’sworking too. the restaurant is open. these men, alwaysthe money. is Betty going to be home alone, or at her sis-ter’s?

My uncle Jimmy handed me the shot glass holding theforbidden fruit. looking skyward. my aunt murmured aprayer for my forgiveness as i tossed the stemmed beautypast my lips. the heat of the alcohol traveled from mythroat into my stomach and down to my crotch. My eyesclosed and my thoughts shifted to my aunt Betty. i hadfirst seen her naked this past summer. We had dropped bytheir apartment on linden Street so we could drive in tan-dem to rockaway. i had gone into the bedroom to askabout my bathing suit and she and my mom were chang-ing. When i saw her, she smiled and continued sliding herlong shaved leg into her bathing suit. My mother, whountil then was the only woman i had ever seen naked, wasvery attractive. aunt Betty was off the charts. She was anabsolute knockout. like a madonna with heat. i remem-bered the way my father looked at her. His bad boy smirk,the way his eyes followed her across the room. i couldn’ttake my eyes off her and apparently neither could he. iwatched as the suit covered her round breasts and thelarge brown nipples disappeared. Burnt umber, i remem-bered the color from my Crayola set. even though i hadnot yet reached puberty, i had what i’ve always thoughtof as my first sexual experience.

the heat in my crotch was transferred to my upper armsas i was greeted by two left jabs and a right hook from mycousin lefty. lefty put his arm around my shoulders,squeezed hard and bit my cheek lightly. Coming from a

seventeen year old, this greeting was genuine affection. iloved it that he was happy to see me...he always made mefeel special. He was my coolest relative and on this Christ-mas eve he was dressed to kill. Powder blue, pegged pantshugged his patent leather wing tips. the pants had a threeinch rise and a black snakeskin belt wound its way aroundhis skinny waist. He wore a cobalt blue, rayon shirt withthe collar extended upward like a jet plane ready for take-off. it was the perfect frame for his Sicilian features. Hisshiny black pompadour sat on his forehead and the duck’sass haircut on his neck fondled the shirt collar. He couldplay pool, drive a car and he had a girlfriend with long redhair and even longer legs. He was a charmer and thoughonly a boy, everyone except his mother treated him like aman. His younger sister, my cousin dolly with a face likean angel, completed this italian version of a 1950 nuclearfamily.

as friends and relatives arrived, more food and drinkswere served. the long narrow tables covered with whitebed sheets were set with the best family china andarranged end to end from the kitchen to the parlor. theysoon became filled with great uncles with great stomachs,women in rouge and rhinestones and screaming cousins.the eating continued as relatives hugged, kissed andreached across each other for mushrooms stuffed withmoudiga, scungilli swimming in olive oil, fried eel andarancini. the food was washed down with homemadewine from the fall harvest, and of course, the whiskey andthe cherries.

at around 8:00, the lobster tails were slipped underthe broiler and the chicken soup with orzo was brought tothe table. Soup was chosen to begin the feast as a way toline the stomach and protect it from the culinary assaultscheduled to follow. tradition dictated that no meat, onlyfish, be eaten until midnight. after the main courses, nutsand fruit and pastry were enjoyed until the sausage wasserved. My father, true to his plan, left for Hempstead afterthe lobster. even though he promised us, we didn’t seehim until the next morning. i wondered if the pink dressfit my aunt Betty. did she ask him to zip up the backwhen she modeled it for him?

~Frank Gioia

28 • 2015 DeCeMBer The ArTfuL MinD68 Main St. Lee, MA 413-243-0242

Our perception of theworld is modified by theways we rationalize our behavior. Seek those

rationalizations which colorthe character's motivation;which actively drive thecharacter in his or herquest for love, power,

wealth or justice. -- BM

Documents

The artful mind december issuu version